Govt administrator to run Destiny

Hours after a Dhaka court sent the Destiny top brass to jail yesterday, the government announced plans to keep the controversial group's business running by appointing an administrator.
Keeping investors' interests in mind, the government will appoint the administrator within a week after doing away with the current management, Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hussain told journalists yesterday.
“The prime minister has already given her consent to the appointment of an administrator. If necessary, we will amend the companies act in consultation with the law ministry to pick more than one administrator,” he said.
Top Destiny Group officials are currently facing charges that include money laundering and transferring company funds to personal accounts.
The anomalies first came to light after a Bangladesh Bank probe in March found Destiny's cooperative arm engaged in illegal banking.
Other agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission, cooperatives department and commerce ministry, also stepped in to look into the matter.
The commerce secretary said the Destiny Group was not being banned as directly a few lakh people, indirectly even more, are involved with the company.
“I will not say the Destiny incident is a national crisis. But it is not a small matter either.”
The government has also decided to investigate Destiny activities further and conduct audits of all the companies under the group through an internationally renowned firm, he added.
Yesterday, the Senior Special Judge's Court ordered sending three top Destiny bosses, including Lt Gen (retd) M Harun-Ar-Rashid and Rafiqul Amin, to jail in two cases of money laundering.
The duo along with Mohammad Hossain, chairman of Destiny 2000 and Destiny Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, surrendered to the court earlier in the morning and sought bail.
After the central bank requested the ACC to look into the Destiny scams, the watchdog on July 31 filed cases against the group's 22 top officials over the Tk 3,285.26 crore laundering.
In the cases, Harun, an ex-chief of army staff, was shown as a Destiny Group director and Rafiqul Amin as managing director. But Destiny's documents showed them as president and chairman respectively.
Their lawyers also mentioned the duo as president and chairman in bail petitions.
Earlier, three metropolitan magistrates in Dhaka granted the Destiny men bail on three different dates between August 6 and September 10, although they have no jurisdiction to deal with money laundering cases.
The ACC on August 13 and September 12 filed appeal petitions with the Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka for cancellation of the bail.
On September 27, Judge Md Zahirul Haque of the court cancelled the bail of 22 Destiny officials, including the trio. He ordered them to surrender before the court, which has jurisdiction to deal with money laundering cases.
During the proceedings yesterday, Public Prosecutor Mosahrraf Hossain Kajol opposed the bail petitions, saying the accused could flee.
ACC Assistant Director Md Towfiqul Islam and Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sardar filed two separate prayers seeking a 20-day remand for each of the three.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka will hear the petitions on Sunday in the presence of the accused.
Meanwhile, police baton-charged some agitators who were chanting slogans demanding the release of Destiny Group officials and trying to damage vehicles on the court premises and outside.
HARUN GOES TO HC
The High Court yesterday fixed October 14 for hearings on two separate bail petitions filed on behalf of Harun citing his health condition.
Opposing the petitions, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the court that he would ask the jail authorities to provide Harun with treatment in prison.
The Destiny Group, which commenced its journey in 2000 through MLM wing with only Tk 12 lakh, ends up facing an ACC allegation that its top officials laundered Tk 3,285.26 crore.
According to a Bangladesh Bank report, Tk 4,995.82 crore was deposited in 281 accounts of the three concerns -- Destiny 2000 Ltd, Destiny Tree Plantation Ltd and Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd (DMCSL).
Of the amount, Tk 4,975.32 crore was transferred to the personal accounts of its directors and several associated firms, said the BB report prepared for the ACC.
Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society, which became the cash cow for the Destiny Group soon after its inception in 2005, has seen an astronomical rise in its capital, shareholders, profit and investment since 2009.
The company's paid-up capital increased to nearly Tk 300 crore in 2009-10 from Tk 5.53 crore a year earlier. The figure jumped to nearly Tk 1,200 crore in 2010-11.
Loans and investments also grew to Tk 569 crore in 2010-11 from less than Tk 23 crore in 2008-09; they rose over 213 percent between 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Destiny posted a staggering 354 percent increase in its net profit in 2010-11 from that of a year ago. These figures, however, are not certified by any chartered accountant and can easily misguide people, said the Bangladesh Bank report.