5 Destiny directors' bank accounts frozen
The National Board of Revenue yesterday froze bank accounts of Destiny Group's five directors, including the chairman of the much-talked-about company.
Bangladesh Bank also asked all banks to provide it with information about the accounts of the company's 14 directors, including its president and the chairman, and its 37 sister organisations.
The NBR and the central bank took the steps in the wake of a controversy over "illegal banking" by the multi-level marketing company.
Meanwhile, the High Court yesterday directed the company to stop within 24 hours the construction work of a five-star hotel and a nine-storey structure in Cox's Bazar.
The NBR's Central Intelligence Cell sent a letter to all banks and asked them to suspend all transactions, including withdrawal and transfer of money, from the accounts of Destiny Chairman Mohammad Rafiqul Amin and four other directors until further notice.
The four directors are Rafiqul's wife Farha Diba, Md Gofranul Haque, vice-president (marketing), Mohammed Sayeed-ur-Rahman, vice-president (finance), and Md Mesbahuddin Swapan, vice-president (asset management).
Wishing anonymity, a NBR high-up said the step was taken to investigate whether they had dodged income tax.
The BB asked the banks to give in three days the information about the account transactions of the Destiny directors to its Central Intelligence Unit.
The banks will have to send information about the accounts of Destiny Group President Lt Gen (retd) M Harun-Ar-Rashid, Chairman Mohammad Rafiqul Amin, Destiny-2000 Ltd Chairman Mohammad Hossain, Destiny vice chairmen Gofranul Haque, Mohammed Sayeed-ur-Rahman, Mesbahuddin Swapan, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and Nepal Chandra Biswas, directors Sayed Sajjad Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sunny, Jamshed Ara Choudhury and Farha Diba, Director and CEO of Destiny Air Systems Mohammad Farid Akhter and Destiny Agro Industries Director and Destiny Builders CEO Lt Col (retd) Didarul Alam.
THE HC ORDER
A High Court bench of justices AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Jahangir Hossain asked the company to stop construction work in Cox's Bazar in response to a writ petition yesterday.
Advocate Manzill Murshid filed the writ petition on behalf of the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh following a Prothom Alo report published on April 22.
The report said Destiny 2000 Ltd has been constructing a five-star hotel and a nine-storey structure on the Cox's Bazaar beach without approval of plans and environmental clearance.
The HC asked the Cox's Bazar deputy commissioner, the police super, the local mayor and the officer-in-charge of Cox's Bazar Police Station to carry out the court order and submit a compliance report by May 6.
It also directed Majharul Islam, project engineer of the Best Western Destiny Beach Hotel and Resort, to appear before the court on May 5 to give explanations, said Murshid.
The court also asked eight government officials to explain in three weeks why the administration's failure to protect the environment should not be declared illegal, and why orders would not be given to remove and destroy all construction materials from the site, he added.
They are environment secretary, director general of the Department of Environment, deputy commission of Cox's Bazar, the police super, local mayor and the OC of Cox's Bazar Police Station.
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