The High Court has reconstituted the board of directors to administer scam-ridden Destiny Multipurpose Co-Operative Society Ltd. Retired Justice of the High Court Mainul Islam Chowdhury has been made the chairman of the board. Bench of Justice Mhummad Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order on Thursday during a hearing on the petition filed by 16 shareholders of the company including director Bikash Shil. Former district judge Hasan Shahed Ferdous, barrister Margub Kabir, FCA Fakhruddin Ahmed and former MPO trader Md Iqbal Zaman has been made members of the new board of directors. On May 31, 16 shareholders of the company appealed seeking permission to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) to the High Court. The petition said, from 2012 to 2021 no AGM of the company was held as several directors including Managing Director of Destiny Rafiqul Amin remained in jail in criminal cases. In 2018, an appeal was made seeking to liquidate the company at the High Court but an order in this regard was stayed by the appellate division of the Supreme Court later, said the petition. However, the order did not ask to refrain from holding AGM or directing the company. Barrister Mainul Hossain represented the petitioner’s side while advocate Ujjwal Kumar Bhowmik represented the opposition on behalf of Destiny MD Rafiqul Amin during the hearing today. Barrister Mainul Hossain said the High Court has asked to keep five members in the new board and it will take decisions considering the interests of the shareholders. Also read: Issue red alerts for arrest of 39 fugitives in Destiny scam case: HC

The High Court on Sunday passed a spilt order on a petition over granting bail to Destiny Group Director Lt Col (retd) Didarul Alam in a money laundering case.  The HC bench consisting of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice SM Mzibur Rahman passed the order. Read: SC forms 5-member committee to prevent sexual harassment Lawyer Sarwar Hossain appeared for the bail petitioner during the hearing while advocate Asif Hasan presented the Anti-Corruption commission (ACC) and Deputy Attorney General AKM AMin Uddin Manik stood for state.  The senior member of the 2-member bench granted bail to Didarul Alam but another judge rejected it. Following the spilt order, the matter will now be sent to the Chief Justice who will assign a new bench to dispose of it. Read: Multiple remands of Pori Moni: 2 magistrates seek unconditional apology to HC  According to the case filed by ACC, Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited and Destiny Tree Plantation laundered Tk 1,178.61 crore from 2009 to 2013. ACC filed the case with Kalabagan Police Station accusing 22 people on July 31, 2012. On October 20, 2012, Didarul was arrested and he has been behind bars since then.  

Things must really be bad if the Commerce Minister, no less, can fail to get his online cow delivered. This is a serious situation indeed because if the Minister’s cow can go missing after purchase,  us ordinary mortals, not necessarily cows, should not expect much. He had bought a cow for Taka 1 lakh but the money and the animal both sank into the online “black hole”. As Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said that if he can get into this mess… Since it was an Eid sacrificial or Qurbani cow, both the Minister and the cow were also deprived of the sowab they were entitled to as part of the holy act. The online platform which sold the cow but never delivered is therefore guilty of not just crime but sin too. Our deepest sympathies to all concerned including if we are permitted, the cow too. Hopefully, in the next Eid two animals can be offered to make up for the lost piety. READ: We are not impressed by the E-valy and other arrests Pay full, get half ? The Minister has also made a significant statement on payback of the money stolen by “Jubok” and “Destiny”, the most well-known MLMs in town.  He has said that given the assets that the Government has been able to access of these two MLM frauds, the ripped off clients may expect about 50% of their dues, someday.  In fact this is incredibly good news because people had given up hope on getting any of their stolen funds back, for any just the original deposit. And there are so many of these institutions that have ripped off people so badly. Theft as part of the finance sector activities is now an established pattern.  The 90s saw the stock market rips off and several people were even charged for market manipulation but of course as expected, all were let off. It’s from that time onwards that the savings and investments stealing has been hugely boosted by thieves who seem to populate everywhere. The share market scams was followed by the MLM fraud wave and then came the banks and leasing companies. Meanwhile, fearing people might get edgy with old sectors; the market was flooded by e-commerce companies particularly after corona struck. They have once again proven that Bangladeshis are the most gullible fools of them all, the authorities are not efficient enough to do their job of regulating and certainly not able to prevent theft.  Or some would say, many are not willing to protect and regulate. It may not have struck the Government that the only safe place is the Sanchay patras zone but with their declaration of reduced savings rate, the space is going to be further squeezed. Since savings money is not kept idle in today’s economy , they will seek new areas of investment and they may be even more risky so the scenario hardly looks good for criminals. READ: 9/11 : Did Al-Qaeda accelerate the West's decline?    So where to then?  There are no ready answers as of today. Perhaps the Minister may try to negotiate with the online company that sold him the cow that was never delivered to deliver a goat instead or a few chicken or even eggs- just anything- instead of what they paid for. It’s sort of like paying half of their dues. Or however much they can. A new era has arrived.

The Supreme Court on Sunday deferred the hearing of two bail petitions filed by Destiny Group Managing Director Md Rafiqul Amin in two money laundering cases till Thursday.