Destiny's Rafiqul Amin 'unwell' in hospital for three months
The managing director of multilevel marketing (MLM) company Destiny, Rafiqul Amin, had been 'unwell' in hospital for the last three months. He was in the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
He had allegedly had been holding business meetings on Zoom and trying to open a new MLM company from the prison cell. The matter came to light after the video of an hour-long Zoom meeting attended by Rafiqul Amin spread on social media recently. After that, the prison authorities removed eight people including chief prison guards tasked with watching Rafiqul Amin. Four chief prison guards were suspended and a departmental case was taken up against 13 prison guards on 2 July.
Rafiqul Amin was arrested in October 2012 in a money laundering case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. Since then, according to prison sources, Rafiqul Amin had been in hospital’s prison cell from time to time. He mainly stayed at the BSMMU and also stayed at BIRDEM General Hospital at times. He stayed the longest time at the BSMMU. Previously, Rafiqul Amin never stayed in hospital this long. He had been in the hospital for one and a half month once. He had been staying at the BSMMU’s prison cell since 11 April this year. He has only now been transferred back to Dhaka Central Jail today, Saturday.
Senior jail superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail Subhas Kumar Ghosh told Prothom Alo on 2 July Rafiqul Amin came to the BSMMU on the excuse of treatment for heart, kidney, orthopaedics and diabetes problems.
Asked about Rafiqul Amin holding business meeting on Zoom from prison cell, Subhas Kumar Ghosh said the inquiry committee would find out how many times Rafiqul Amin held Zoom meetings from the BSMMU’s prison cell.
Probe opens
A three-member committee formed by the prisons department started investigating into how Rafiqul Amin held the Zoom meeting. The head of committee, deputy inspector general-prisons (DIG) of Dhaka division Touhidul Islam, told Prothom Alo on 2 July the probe body has been talking to the concerned people. The committee would to submit its report in seven days after investigation.
Suspended and departmental case
The prison authorities removed eight jail guards, who were deployed at Rafiqul Islam’s prison cell, from duty on 1 July. Four of them were chief jail guards and have been suspended. They are Md Yunus Ali Mollah, Mir Badiuzzaman, Md Abdus Salam and Md Anwar Hossain. Departmental case was filed against seven assistant chief jail guards and six jail guards, who all were deployed to watch Rafiqul Amin in shift. The seven assistant chief jail guards are Jasim Uddin, Saidul Haque Khan, Billal Hossain, Ibrahim Khalil, Barkat Ullah, Enamul Haque and Sarwar Hossain while the six jail guards are Mozammel Haque, Zahidul Islam, Amir Hossain, Kamrul Islam, Shakil Mia and Abdul Alim.
Senior jail superintendent Subhas Kumar Ghosh said whatever negligence the jail guards showed would be revealed in the investigation and action would be taken accordingly.
Charges in case
The ACC filed two cases against 53 officials of Destiny, including its managing director Rafiqul Amin and chairman Mohammad Hossain, with Dhaka’s Kalabagan police station on 31 July 2012 under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
The charges the Destiny Multipurpose Co-Operative Society Limited had a assets worth Tk 33.5 billion (3,350 crore). The accused collected Tk 19.01 billion (1,901 crore) from people and misappropriated Tk 18.61 billion (1,861 crore) from that fund in the name of profit, honorarium, salary and allowance.
Since 2013, police have been in charge of the movable and immovable properties owned by Destiny following a court order.