Indictment challenged with HC

Two of the accused have appealed to the High Court (HC) challenging their indictment in a case against 14 people, including Nobel Prize-winning Grameen Telecom Chairman Muhammad Yunus, over the embezzlement of funds from dividends set aside for the company's employees, reports bdnewws24.com.

The two accused are advocates Jafrul Hasan Sharif and Md Yusuf Ali.

Sharif said the application filed under Section 561(A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure was scheduled to be heard by the bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Md Ali Reza on Wednesday. After an initial hearing, the court suspended the proceedings for a week. The hearing would be held by a regular bench after the break.

                                 Muhammad Yunus

Sharif said, "We are prosecutors in the case against Yunus, representing the company's employees. But we have been named as the accused in the case. I am still the lawyer in 28 cases filed against Yunus."

However, no such appeal has been filed yet on behalf of Yunus, according to the 83-year-old microcredit pioneer's lawyer Abdul Al Mamun.

He told bdnews24.com, "We haven't received the certified copy regarding the formation of the charges yet. That's why we haven't made any appeal yet to the High Court."

The court of Dhaka 4th Special Judge Syed Arafat Hossain indicted 14 people, including the two petitioners and Yunus, in the case on Jun 12. The court set Jul 15 for recording testimony in the case.

Gulshan Anwar Pradhan, deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, initiated the case in 2023. According to his probe report, the accused 'embezzled' over Tk 250 million from the Grameen Telecom workers' welfare fund. The money has been 'transferred illegally', which is a crime per the country's money laundering prevention law.

According to the case dossier, an account was opened at Dhaka Bank's Gulshan branch in the presence of Grameen Telecom board members including Yunus and Managing Director Md Nazmul Islam following the decision of the 108th board held on May 9, 2022. However, the bank account was opened a day earlier.