The central bank has once again urged the commerce and home ministries to take actions against the alleged illegal activities of Destiny-2000, country’s largest Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) company.

Bangladesh Bank in a recent letter sent to the Secretary of Banking and Financial Institutions Division, Finance Ministry, Shafiqur Rahman Patwari requested the two ministries to take measures against the involvement of Destiny with illegal banking and other financial activities.

As Banking Division has received the letter, now it would convey the BB message to the concerned ministries soon, a senior Banking Division official who is involved with the matter, told daily sun.

The official also noted that the finance ministry earlier had also urged the two ministries to take actions against the company but they did not pay hid to the plea.

The letter bearing the signature of BB General Manager KM Abdul Wadud, also reads that in 2005 BB authorities also requested the Commerce and Home ministries to take measures against Destiney -2000 and two other MLM companies -- New way Bangladesh and Global Guardian Network .

Sources in the Ministry of Finance also said the two ministries did not respond to that BB requests.

The Banking Division Secretary told daily sun last week his division had conveyed the BB message to the Commerce Ministry.

He also said that the government high-up may take decision against illegal activities of MLM companies soon.

Commerce ministry is now formulating a law for MLM companies and their operations which have spread throughout the country in recent years, he said.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Faruk Khan on his last working day as Commerce Minister last month has approved a proposal to take legal actions against Destiny -2000. The proposal to take legal action against Destiny was made as per an allegation from a Chittagong resident Khrushid Ahmed Khan.

Allegedly, Destiny is involved with illegal share trading and banking activities though it does not have legal authority to do so.

The Ministry of Commerce also sent letters to the Home Secretary, Banking Division Secretary, Bangladesh Bank Governor, the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman and Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms to take measures against the MLM company.

As per the allegation of Khrushid Ahmed Khan Destiny illegally sold it shares to earn around Tk 14 billion even if it had not enlisted it with stock market.

In the allegation, he also apprehended that Destiny might shut down its activities in Dhaka and other districts of the country by 2014.

The present amount of capital of Destiny has reached Tk 500 billion and its total number of agents 3.8 million.

Destiny offers an unrealistic four per cent interest every month against any deposit of Tk 100,000 with it by a depositor. At the same time, if any of Destiny agents can convince a client to deposit Tk 1,000 or more, he gets another 25 per cent interest a year. The company has no legal authority to run such financial activities.

Destiny has allegedly been involved with Hundi business through its agents in the USA, Canada, Italy and Middle East countries. Allegedly it has so far transacted Tk 8-10 billion through Hundi.

The MLM company has also involved itself with media. Now it operates a TV channel and a newspaper while launching another newspaper is in the planning stage.

It is also alleged that the company has appointed a former Army high official as one of its top positions as he is believed to have strong links with the government high-ups. The company wants to use the official to convince the government not to take legal action against it, sources said.

Last week, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has also requested the Commerce Ministry to find out ways for recovering the money which multi-level marketing (MLM) company Unipay2u has illegally collected from its clients.

Meanwhile, another MLM company, Revnex, has closed its activities in Dhaka last week as it failed to pay back its clients’ deposited money.

The Ministry of Commerce recently has also asked the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms to cancel registration of 45 MLM firms, including Destiny-2000 Ltd, for using false addresses.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 19th Dec 2011