Court defers Destiny verdict

A Dhaka court today fixed 15 January for announcing the verdict in a case filed against 19 people, including Rafiqul Amin, managing director of multilevel marketing (MLM) company Destiny, on charges of laundering over Tk2,257 crore from consumers.

Judge of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-4 Rabiul Alam has refixed the date for announcing the verdict of the case. 

The judge had fixed today for the verdict after completing the hearing on arguments of the state and the accused. But the judge reset the date as the verdict was not ready today.

The accused of the case are- Managing Director Rafiqul Amin, Director Lieutenant General (Retd.) Harunur Rashid, Head Office Chairman Md. Hossain, Vice President Mohammad Gofaranul Haque, Md. Said-ur Rahman, Mejbah Uddin Swapan, Engineer Sheikh Tyebur Rahman and Gopal Chandra Biswas, Director Syed Sajjad Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sani, Mrs. Farha Diba and Jamsed Ara Chowdhury, Profit Sharing Distributor Md. Jasim Uddin Bhuiyan, General Secretary of Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.

Zakir Hossain and member Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Diamond Executive SM Ahsanul Kabir Biplab, Zobair Sohail and Abdul Mannan and Crown Executive Mosaddeq Ali Khan.

Among the accused, Rafiqul Amin, Farha Diba and Mohammad Hossain are in jail while Lieutenant General (retd) Harunur Rashid is out on bail. The remaining 15 accused are absconding.

On 31 July 2012, ACC Deputy Director Md Mojahar Ali Sarker filed the case against 12 persons including Rafiqul Amin with Kalabagan Police Station in Dhaka on charges of embezzlement and laundering the fund of customers to the tune of Tk2,257 crore.

The ACC submitted a charge sheet before the court in the case against 19 people on 20 March 2014 after completion of the investigation. Names of seven others were included in the charge sheet as their involvement was found during the investigation. 

On 24 August 2016, the court started the trial. As many as 140 people gave depositions during the trial in the case. 

According to the case details, Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL) cheated more than eight and a half lakh investors from July 2009 to June 2012 for their own benefit.

Thousands of crores of money were collected from investors in the name of providing loans, investing in non-profit organisations, opening new companies, which were later diverted by the accused persons in the name of dividends, honorarium and salaries.

On the other hand, from 21 March 2006 to 17 February 2009, more than Tk2,000 crore was collected from customers for Destiny Tree-Plantation Limited (DTPL) in the name of sale of trees in violation of laws and regulations.

The accused persons in connivance with each other embezzled the money as salaries, honorarium, dividends, special allowances or commissions, according to the prosecution.