Verdict in case against Destiny Group bosses on Thursday

The verdict in a case that charges Destiny Group President Harunur Rashid, a former army chief, and Managing Director Rafiqul Amin with embezzling and money laundering will be given on Thursday.

Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka's Special Judge's Court-4 set the date at the end of the argument in the case started by the Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC against the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society 10 years ago.

The court heard 202 witnesses for the state in the case and Rafiqul provided defence witness, said ACC lawyer Mir Ahmed Ali Salam, who is anticipating a maximum punishment for the accused.

Harunur, who is a retired lieutenant general, is currently out on bail, but the company’s Chairman Mohammad Hossain and MD Rafiqul have been behind the bars for the last 10 years.

“We’ve done a tremendous job by hearing 202 witnesses and are happy to bring the case thus far,” Salam said.

The defence lawyers earlier said they will move the High Court to appeal if the verdict does not turn out in their favour.

The ACC filed two cases, the other against Destiny Tree Plantation Project, on July 31, 2012 with Kalabagan police in Dhaka.

In May 2014, the national graft-busting agency submitted chargesheets in both the 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.

Harunur and Rafiqul are accused in both cases.

The ACC found out 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.

According to the charges, the group had collected Tk 24.45 billion through Destiny Tree Plantation project from investors since 2008 and embezzled around Tk 22.57 billion.

More than 1.7 million investors fell victim to this misappropriation.

The investigation report mentioned that Destiny Group has 28 organisations under its name. The accused deposited the money collected in the bank accounts of those organisations and later transferred the money to accounts in other banks.

The ACC found 722 such accounts in 34 banks. All of them, however, have been frozen.

The cases also allege that the embezzled money was laundered.