The High Court on Thursday rejected the bail petition filed by Destiny Group Chairman Mohammad Hossain in a case filed on the charge of laundering money from the Destiny Tree Plantation Project (DTPP).
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing an appeal petition filed against a lower court order that rejected his bail in the case.
The court, however, asked the special court concerned to dispose of the case expeditiously.
Lawyer Sarwar Hossain appeared in the court hearing on behalf of Mohammad Hossain, while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state and lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The Anti-Corruption Commission on July 31, 2012, filed two cases under Money Laundering Prevention Act with 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 that 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, a special court in Dhaka delivered the judgment in Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited case on May 12 in 2022.
The case of money embezzlement in the Destiny Tree Plantation Project is at the stage of testimony in the trial court. Mohammad Hossain appealed to the High Court after the lower court rejected his bail petition in the case.
Meanwhile, judge of the Special Judge's Court-4 in Dhaka, Shaikh Nazmul Alam, sentenced all the 46 accused, including Destiny Group Chairman Mohammad Hossain to different terms of imprisonment in the case of embezzling Tk 18.61 billion through Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.
In the case, Mohammad Hossain was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and fined Tk 15 million.
The court also sentenced Destiny Group President former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Harun-Ar-Rashid to four years imprisonment and fined Tk 35 million and Managing Director Rafiqul Amin to 12 years of imprisonment and fined Tk 2.0 billion in the case.
