The top court allowed on Monday Professor Muhammad Yunus and six officials of Grameen Telecom to appeal against a High Court order upholding their indictment in a money-laundering case.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, also scheduled a hearing for November 19 for the appeal.
The bench issued the order in response to a leave to appeal petition filed by the interim government's Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, and six others from Grameen Telecom challenging the High Court order.
The six Grameen Telecom officials are Managing Director Nazmul Islam, and Directors Ashraful Hassan, Nazneen Sultana, Md Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and SM Huzzatul Islam Latifee.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on May 30, 2023, against Prof. Yunus and 12 others at its Integrated District Office no. 1 in Dhaka. Additional accused were included after an investigation.
The case alleged that the accused embezzled Tk 252.2 million from the Grameen Telecom Workers' Profit Participation Fund and illegally transferred it, constituting an offense under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
The Investigation Officer of the case, Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, who is also a Deputy Director of the ACC, submitted the charge-sheet against Prof. Yunus and 13 others on February 1, 2024.
On June 12 of this year, a Dhaka court framed charges against all 14 accused in the case for embezzling and laundering Tk 252.2 million from the Grameen Telecom Workers' Profit Participation Fund.
On July 24, the High Court summarily rejected a petition filed by Prof. Yunus and six others challenging a Dhaka court's order framing charges against them in the case. The HC also ordered the lower court to conclude the trial proceedings within the next year.
Yunus and six others filed a leave to appeal petition with the Appellate Division on August 25, challenging the High Court order.
Earlier on August 11, Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 in Dhaka acquitted Prof. Yunus, Nurjahan, who is also an adviser to the interim government, and 12 other accused after the ACC applied to withdraw the prosecution of the case.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun, a counsel for Prof. Yunus, stated that the Anti-Corruption Commission's efforts to withdraw the money laundering case did not follow due process of law.
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