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A Dhaka court on Thursday granted bail to Nobel laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in a case filed on charge of embezzling and laundering Tk 252.2 million of Grameen Telecom Workers' Profit Participation Fund.
Judge of the Special Judge’s Court no 4 in Dhaka, Syed Arafat Hossain, passed the order after hearing the bail petitions filed by the accused.
The court also set June 2 this year for holding a hearing on charge framing, said Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun who appeared in the court proceedings on behalf of Prof Yunus.
Barrister Mamun said, “Today (Thursday) court was scheduled to hold hearing on charge framing in the case. However, we placed a petition for the adjournment of the hearing and the court accepted it. At the same time, the court granted bail to Prof Yunus and others in the case.”
Earlier on April 2, the Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka took into cognizance the charges pressed against the 14 accused including Prof Yunus.
The court also transferred the case to the Special Court no 4 in Dhaka for its trial and fixed May 2 for the next hearing in the case.
Grameen Telecom Managing Director Nazmul Islam, former Managing Director Ashraful Hassan, Directors Nazneen Sultana, Parveen Mahmud, M Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and Professor S M Huzzatul Islam Latifee were also included as accused in the case.
The accused list also included lawyers Md Yousuf Ali and Jafrul Hasan Sharif, ‘Grameen Telecom Sramik-Karmachari Union’ President Md Kamruzzaman, Union’s Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hassan and Union’s representative Mainul Islam, and Jatiya Workers Federation’s Office Secretary Kamrul Hasan.
Anti-Corruption Commission on February 1 this year submitted the charge-sheet against Prof Yunus and 13 others in the case filed.
Investigation Officer of the case, Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, also a Deputy Director of the ACC, submitted the charge-sheet before the Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka.
Earlier on May 30 2023, Gulshan Anwar filed the case against Prof Yunus and 12 others with the ACC's Integrated District Office-1 in Dhaka. Among the charge-sheeted accused, Kamrul Hasan’s name was included after the investigation.
It was alleged in the case that the accused embezzled Tk 252.2 million and transferred it illegally which is an offence under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.