Appellate Division denies bail to Destiny MD, chairman

The Appellate Division today rejected the bail petitions of Destiny group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and Chairman Mohammad Hossain in a case filed by Anti Corruption Commission(ACC).

The court also directed for quick settlement of the case in trial court.

On December 15, the bench consisting Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain fixed today for hearing the bail petition.

Barrister Ajmalul Hossain QC stood for the petition. The Anti Corruption Commission was represented by Md Khurshid Alam Khan.

Later, Khurshid Alam Khan said, "In November of 2016, the Appellate Division had granted bail to two of them on condition that Destiny would sell their trees and pay the government the money.

They appealed to the Appellate Division in 2017 seeking to relax this condition. That application was rejected on November 30 of that year. Now they want bail again. But no conditions were met. We have requested to dismiss the bail petition."

On November 13, 2016, the Appellate Division had directed the Destiny group to pay Tk2,800 crores from the sale of 35 lakh trees to the government within six weeks.

The Court at that time said that the chairman and MD are being granted bail on this condition. 

However, the accused are still in jail for not complying to the conditions.  

On December 1 of this year, Destiny's lawyers again applied for a relaxation of the conditions given by the Appellate Division. The hearing on December 15 was set as the date for Destiny to present additional papers. 

On July 31, 2012, the ACC filed two cases against Destiny Group officials at Kalabagan Police Station. Following the investigation into the case, the ACC filed the chargesheet on May 5, 2014 where 19 were accused in the Destiny Multipurpose Co-operative Society corruption case and 46 officials were accused in the Destiny Tree Plantation Ltd corruption case.

On August 24, 2016, Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka started the trial of the accused in two cases. However, Rafiqul Amin and Mohammad Hossain got bail from the High Court on the condition of submitting their passports in the Tree Plantation embezzlement case. The ACC later appealed against the High Court order.