5 Destiny high-ups granted bail

A Dhaka court yesterday granted bail to five Destiny Group top-brasses including its managing director, until submission of probe reports in two money laundering cases, even though the charges brought against the accused are non-bailable.
Special Public Prosecutor Kabir Hussain told The Daily Star that the magistrate violated the provisions of Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2009 by granting the accused bail in the cases.
The act does not allow granting bail to anybody, he said.
The act allows “only judge of the special judge's court to hear any petition submitted by both the prosecution and the defence sides. As per law, a metropolitan magistrate is not a special judge”, Kabir added.
In reply to a query, Kabir said he would first inform chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission about the matter and would challenge the order if the ACC asked him to file any petition with the higher court.
However, defence lawyer Ehsanul Haque Samaji told The Daily Star that a metropolitan magistrate could grant bail to anybody in any case “when it is at the stage of investigation”.
Moreover, the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the magistrate to hear any petition or grant bail to any body, Samaji claimed.
Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Erfan Ullah passed the order after the accused surrendered before it in the morning.
The accused are Destiny Group Managing Director Mohammad Rafiqul Amin and Director Lt Gen (rtd) M Harunur Rashid; Destiny 2000 Chairman Mohammad Hossain and its two directors Gofranul Huq and Sayed-ur Rahman.
They surrendered before the court around 10:00am and filed two separate bail petitions in connection with the two cases.
On July 31, the ACC sued 22 officials of Destiny Group for laundering Tk 3,285.26 crore by cheating investors.
ACC Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sarder filed a case with the capital's Kalabagan Police Station against 12 Destiny Group officials for laundering about Tk 2106.64 crore out of Destiny Tree Plantation Ltd project.
The other case was lodged by ACC Assistant Director Towfiqul Islam against 22 top officials of the Group, including the 12 accused in the first case, for laundering Tk 1178.61 crore from Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd (DMCSL).