ACC appeals to HC to increase sentence of 45 Destiny executives

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has appealed to the High Court (HC) to increase the tenure of the sentence of 45 executives including Lt Gen (retd) Harun-Ar-Rashid of Destiny Multipurpose Co-Operative Society Ltd. and Destiny Tree Plantation Project in a money embezzlement case.

ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan pleaded for a hearing before the bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Kazi Md. Ejarul Haque Akondo on Sunday.

Khurshid Alam said,” Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin has been awarded 12 years imprisonment and the other 45 executives have been given lower punishment. But this is an organised crime. There is no chance of a difference in punishment. That is why we have appealed to the court to increase their penalty term except for Rafiqul Amin. The court has directed the individuals concerned to include this appeal on the cause list on Monday. I Hope, the hearing will be held this week.”

On May 12, a Dhaka court sentenced all 46 accused, including Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and Destiny-2000 president Lt Gen Harun (retd), to different terms of imprisonment in the money laundering case and fined Tk 2,300 crore.

On 31 July 2012, two separate cases were filed with the Kalabagan police station against Rafiqul and other officials of Destiny on the allegation of embezzling money from the investors in the name of Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society and Destiny Tree Plantation Limited and laundering it.

On Thursday last, the HC directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to bring to justice 39 fugitives convicted in the case filed for embezzling Tk 4,000 crore from Destiny Group subscribers.

Source: United News of Bangladesh