The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) approved Thursday two charge sheets against 51 Destiny Group executives for their alleged involvement in the misappropriation and laundering of about Tk 41.19 billion, officials said.
The charge sheets were approved in a regular meeting of the commission, the anti-graft watchdog Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told the reporters.
After a 17-month investigation, the ACC probe team filed two reports to the commission recently and the charge sheets would be submitted to the court shortly, an ACC official said.
A six-member investigation team, led by ACC deputy director Mozahar Ali Sardar, conducted the probe.
According to the probe report, the Destiny Group executives swindled clients' money amounting to about Tk 41.19 billion from the two projects-Destiny Tree Plantation Limited and Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.
A Bangladesh Bank (BB) enquiry found that the Destiny Group laundered around Tk 51.13 billion from 2002 to 2006 through 282 accounts opened by its three sister concerns, Destiny 2000 Limited, Destiny Tree Plantation Limited and Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL). The number of accounts reached 722, finally.
The BB report said that Destiny 2000 started operating bank accounts from the year 2000, the DMCSL from 2005 and the Destiny Tree Plantation from 2006.
The investigation found that the Destiny Group men had transferred the money to their 722 accounts with 35 banks.
The probe reports said the Destiny Group bosses laundered money mainly to the US, Canada, Singapore, France and Hong Kong, and the group embezzled the money through its 35 sister concerns.
On July 31 last year, two cases were filed separately with the Kalabagan Police Station by ACC deputy director Mozahar Ali Sardar and assistant director Towfiqul Islam under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2004 and the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012.
President of Destiny Group Lt Gen (retd) M Harun-Ar-Rashid, former chief of army staff is now on bail and managing director Mohammad Rafiqul Amin in prison in connection with the cases.
The other accused persons include Farah Deeba, wife of Mohammad Rafiqul Amin, Mohammad Hossain, Md Gofranul Haque, Mohammad Saidur Rahman, Mohammad Mezbah Uddin, Syed Sajjad Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sani, Jamshed Ara Chowdhury, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, Nepal Chandra Biswas, Jasimuddin Bhuyan, Zakir Hossain, SM Ahasanul Kabir, Zubair Sohel, Mosaddek Ali Khan, Abdul Mannan, Abul Kalam Azad, SM Ahasanul Kabir , Azad Rahman, M Akbar Hossain Sumon, Saidul Islam Khan, M Sumon Ali Khan, Sirin Akter, Rafiqul Islam Sarkar, Mojibur Rahman, Didarul Alam, M Haideruzzman, Mohammad Joynul Abidin, Kazi Fazlul Karim, Mollah Al-Amin, Safiul Islam, Ziaul Haque Molla, Sikder Kabirul Islam, M Firoz Alam, Omar Faruk, Sunil Baran Karmakar, Farid Akter, S Sahiduzzman, Abdur Rahman Tapan, Sakibuzzman Khan, AHM Atiur Rahman Reza, Ghulam Kibria Milton, Atiqur Rahman, Khandakar Benazir Ahmed, AKM Safiullah, Shah Alam, Delower Hossain, Jesmin Akter and M Safiqul Haque.
