Published : 30 Aug 2022, 10:35 PM
Updated : 30 Aug 2022, 10:35 PM
The High Court has granted a six-month bail to former army chief Harun-Ar-Rashid, who was sentenced to prison for embezzlement and money laundering as the president of Destiny Group.
The panel of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat granted the bail after a hearing on Tuesday following the submission of his health test report.
“He is a heroic freedom fighter, who was the army chief, former high commissioner to Australia, who served for a long time in the mission. He worked for the United Nations. He has many testimonials of credit. We presented them in court,” said Robiul Alam, the lawyer for Harun.
“He has only been jailed for four years and is one of the 46 convicts. He had earlier surrendered to the court. I told the court that we have always obeyed the law, and will abide by the law in future. The court was satisfied and granted bail to the 75-year-old for six months.”
Earlier on Jun 29, after hearing the bail petition, the High Court ordered the formation of a medical board for Harun’s treatment and asked for a report.
Harun retired in 2002 as the army chief. A few years later, he joined the controversial Destiny Group.
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 to various terms in a case filed by ACC a decade ago.
Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka's Special Judge's Court-4 delivered the verdict in the case on May 12, 2022.
Managing Director Rafiqul Amin got 12 years in jail. The other convicts got between 4 and 11 years in prison.
The court also slapped all the suspects with fines totalling Tk 23 billion. Of this amount, Harun will have to pay Tk 35 million, and Rafiqul Tk 2 billion.
Harun appealed against the sentence on Jun 9 and the High Court accepted it for hearing. After two days of the hearing, he was granted bail.
