Destiny Group Managing Director Mohammad Rafiqul Amin transferred at least Tk61 crore to his personal bank account from the deposits that 17.5 lakh investors made with his company, an ACC probe has found.
According to the report of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the accused admitted to having transferred the amount in the form of commission, allowance, salary, remuneration, profit, incentive, dividend, etc from a total of Tk2,433 crore collected from the investors for Destiny’s tree plantation project.
The Destiny boss made the confession before a magistrate, the report said.
The money was collected from general investors with promises of high interests and making them shareholders of the company; but a major portion of the money was either laundered or transferred to the personal accounts of the company bigwigs, the report said.
Out of Tk61 crore, the Destiny boss transferred Tk50.14 crore as commissions from the D2K packages – special commission from the Destiny Tree Plantation Limited – and from the Destiny Special Training Centre, Diamond Builders and Boishakhi Limited.
He also took Tk1.18 crore from Softalk Online Ltd and Tk2.76 crore from Destiny Diamond Builders Ltd to buy a land in Feni; Tk1.49 crore from Destiny Tree Plantation Ltd to buy a flat at Dhanmondi; and Tk1.72 crore from Destiny Media and Publications Ltd to buy a Vivek Real Estate flat, the inquiry found.
The ACC probe team on Monday submitted its findings on the embezzlement allegations of Tk4,119 crore by Destiny Group. It recommended pressing charges against at least 50 people, including Destiny Group President and former army chief M Harun-ur-Rashid and MD Mohammad Rafiqul Amin.
The team found that the company had collected Tk2,433 crore from some 17.5 lakh investors from March 21, 2006 to February 17, 2009 under the tree plantation project, and the directors had embezzled Tk2,257 crore of the amount.