B`desh ex-army chief faces arrest in graft case

Dhaka: Former Bangladesh army chief M Harunur Rashid faces arrest after a court here today cancelled the bail granted to him and four others in a major money laundering case.

Court officials and lawyers said Senior Special Judge Akhtaruzzaman cancelled the bail order of Destiny Group chairman retired lieutenant general Rashid and four top officials of the business firm on a petition by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). "The (today`s) court order meant police can arrest them any time," a senior prosecution official said. The ACC in an identical but separate two petitions sought to scrap bail orders against 16 other officials of the same business group, but the judge accepted them for hearing later on a later date. The group is accused of siphoning off an amount of Taka 3,285.26 crore by cheating investors. Reports of massive irregularities in the business group earlier this year prompted different government agencies and the ACC to launch investigations against the firm`s "shadow business" in the name of multilevel marketing company (MLM) and cooperative societies. The independent graft watchdog in August filed two cases against the top brass of the Destiny Group under the Money Laundering Act 2012. Rashid, a 1971 Liberation War veteran, served as the army chief in late 1990s. PTI