Controversial business group Destiny has sought a licence from the government to do business based on multi-level marketing system as its property worth hundreds of crores of taka is being looted in absence of adequate protection.

A number of distributors of Destiny Group made the plea at a press briefing at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.

Destiny was engaged in MLM business although there were no rules for such business in the country. The government last year introduced a law to bring MLM companies under a legal framework and impose a ban on pyramid selling.

The distributors said land-grabbers are gradually taking control of Destiny's assets. Trees at the gardens owned by the group are being looted, they said, adding that a vested quarter is trying to sell its property worth Tk 67 crore at only Tk 35 lakh through auction.

Sharmin Akhter, a distributor of Destiny, read out a written statement. Distributors Ferdousi Haque, Nasrin Azad, Faria Mahbub and Firoz Alam and Destiny Distributors Forum's Secretary General Rajib Mitra were also present. 

The written statement claimed Destiny, set up by Rafiqul Amin, has 35 units and Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society is one of them.

The society has 8.5 lakh shareholders and members and has not taken deposits from outsiders, the statement claimed. The group is valued at about Tk 7,000 crore, it said.

Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin, President Lt Gen (retd) Harun-Ar-Rashid and its directors are now facing funds embezzlement and money laundering cases involving around Tk 4,200 crore.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police has been made the caretaker of the Destiny property following a court order.