Two top destiny officials denied bail

The Supreme Court today further refused to grant bail to two top Destiny officials, Rafiqul Amin and Mohammad Hossain, as they did not pay the money to the government in accordance with an earlier order of this court in two money-laundering cases.

The apex court kept two petitions filed by Rafiqul and Hossain seeking bail and modification of its earlier order stand over (waiting for hearing) for eight weeks.

A three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order during hearing of the petitions.

The SC on July 10 had refused to grant bail to Rafiqul and Hossain saying that if they are granted bail, they will not pay the money and even they will not be found if they are released on bail.

Earlier on November 13, 2016, Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul and Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd Chairman Mohammad Hossain were granted bail by the Appellate Division on condition that they must pay the government Tk 2,800 crore in six weeks by selling 35 lakh matured trees planted under the company's tree plantation project.

The apex court said if they fail to do so, they would have to deposit Tk 2,500 crore in cash to the the national exchequer to get bail in the cases filed by the Anti Corruption Commission.

Without complying with the SC orders, the officials filed two petitions with the SC seeking modification of the SC's November 13 order and bail in the cases.

The ACC in 2012 filed the cases against 22 officials of Destiny Group, including Rafiqul and Hossain for laundering Tk 4,200 crore.

The group's irregularities surfaced in early 2012 after the central bank found that it had been involved in illegal banking.

Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud appeared for Destiny officials, while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the ACC.