The High Court has ordered the concerned bodies of the government to form a medical board for the treatment of Destiny Group President and also former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Harun-Ar-Rashid who is now in jail after getting conviction in a case filed on charge of embezzling Tk 18.61 billion.
The authorities of the Department of Prisons and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) have been asked to comply with the HC order and to submit a medical report regarding his health condition within 15 days.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo on Wednesday passed the order after hearing on a petition filed for forming a medical board for General Harun.
Lawyers Robiul Alam Budu and Mainul Islam appeared in the court hearing on behalf of General Harun, while Deputy Attorney General A K M Amin Uddin Manik represented the state and lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Lawyer Mainul Islam said, “Former Chief of Army Staff General Harun is now 75-year old. He is suffering from different complex diseases. In this circumstance, we appealed for his proper treatment.”
General Harun, also a gallantry award-winning freedom fighter, went on retirement in 2002. Within a few years, he joined the controversial Destiny Group.
Earlier on May 12 in 2022, a special court in Dhaka sentenced all the 46 accused, including Destiny Group President General Harun-Ar-Rashid and Managing Director Rafiqul Amin, to different terms of imprisonment in the case filed over embezzling Tk 18.61 billion through Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.
Harun-Ar-Rashid was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined Tk 35 million and Rafiqul Amin was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment and fined Tk 2.0 billion. The court awarded minimum imprisonment to the former Chief of Army considering his noble contribution to our great liberation war.
Judge of the Special Judge's Court-4 in Dhaka, Shaikh Nazmul Alam, delivered the verdict after concluding all the proceedings of the case.
The High Court on June 9 this year, admitted an appeal petition for a hearing filed by General Harun against his four years jail sentence in the case. However, the court summarily rejected the bail petition filed by him.
The Anti-Corruption Commission on July 31, 2012, filed two cases under Money Laundering Prevention Act with the capital's Kalabagan Police Station.
In one case, 46 people were accused of misappropriating Tk 18.61 billion under the cover of Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited Project, while in another case 19 people were accused of embezzling more than Tk 22.57 billion through Destiny Tree Plantation Project (DTPP).
The court on August 24, 2016, framed charges in the two cases. Of the two cases, the court pronounced the judgment in the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited case on May 12 this year.
