A probe team of the Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday submitted its investigation report on Tk4,119 crore embezzlement by Destiny Group to ACC Director General Salahuddin Ahmed, recommending filing charges against at least 50 people, including Destiny Group President and former army chief M Harun-ur-Rashid and Managing Director Mohammad Rafiqul Amin.
ACC officials said the report also recommended departmental actions against 11 government officials on charges of their connection with the irregularity.
ACC Deputy Director, also head of the probe team, Md Mojahar Ali Sarder confirmed that the report was submitted to the department concerned.
ACC Commissioner M Shahabuddin told reporters that it will be placed before the commission within a day or two.
The report said the Destiny officials had collected money from investors under its projects Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL) and Destiny Tree Plantation Limited (DTPL), luring them of providing high interest and making them shareholders of the company, but swindled the money.
The directors of the company also collected money in the name of investing them at 32 non profitable businesses, but they either transferred the money to their personal accounts or embezzled in the name of allowance, salary, remuneration, profit, special allowance or commission etc, the report added.
The probe team recommended filing charges against the management committee of the company and those who supported the directors in the anomaly.
Recommendations were also placed to take departmental action against 11 government officials, who did not monitor how DMCSL’s capital rose to Tk1,400 crore from only Tk50 crore.
The accused government officials are Deputy Secretary at ministry of industries Protul Kumar Shaha, Deputy Secretary at labour ministry Kazi Nazrul Islam, acting district cooperative officer at Jamalpur Abdul Jabbar, Sirajganj District Cooperative Officer Kazi Mezbah Uddin Ahmed, Dohar Upazila Cooperative Officer HM Shahiduzzaman, Dhaka District Cooperative Officer Muhammad Galib Khan, joint registrars at Department of Cooperative in Dhaka Khandker Sirajul Islam and M Mahbubur Rahman, additional registrars M Iqbal Hossain and M Saiduzzaman, and District Cooperative Officer at Bagura M Fazlul Haque.
According to the findings of the probe team, the company had cheated with over eight lakh investors in between July 2009 to June 2012 under the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited project. They had collected a total of Tk1,901 crore from the investors and had either transferred or swindled Tk1,861 crore from it in the name of profit, salary and allowances.
The probe team also found that the company had collected Tk2,433 crore from around 17.5 lakh investors during March 21, 2006 to February 17, 2009 under the tree plantation project, and the directors had embezzled Tk2,257 crore from it.