Protesters call for release of Destiny Group’s Harun, Rafiqul

A group of protesters have held a demonstration at the court premises to demand the release of Destiny Group’s top officials, who were sentenced to prison for embezzlement and money laundering.

The protesters gathered at the court premises on Thursday morning, claiming they were investors in Destiny Group. They chanted slogans demanding the release of Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and President Harun-Ar-Rashid, a former army chief, and other top officials before and after the verdict was delivered.

Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam delivered the verdict in the case at 11:30 am.

All of the 46 suspects named in the case over the embezzlement and money laundering of about Tk 18.61 billion from the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society were sentenced to prison.

Rafiqul Amin got 12 years in jail and Harun-Ar-Rashid got four years. The other convicts got between 4 and 11 years in prison.

Following the verdict, the protesters said they rejected it and said they want Rafiqul Amin and the other senior officials to be ‘freed’ and the laundered money returned to investors.

Munsur Alam, who came from Chandpur and claimed to be a customer of Destiny Group, said: “If Rafiqul Amin is freed, Destiny will be able to get back on its feet. And we will be able to recoup our investments.”

The ACC filed two cases against the group, one against the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society and the other against the Destiny Tree Plantation Project, on July 31, 2012, with Kalabagan police in Dhaka.

The ACC found that Destiny collected Tk 19.01 billion for the Multipurpose Cooperative Project in 2008 and embezzled Tk 18.61 billion from there, causing losses to 850,000 investors.

In May 2014, the national graft-busting agency submitted charges in both cases at the end of the investigation. Nineteen people were accused in the case against Destiny Tree Plantation Ltd, while 46 were accused in the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society case.

Harun-Ar-Rashid and Rafiqul are accused in both cases.