A Dhaka court on Monday deferred until August 5 this year testimony against Nobel laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in a case filed on charges of embezzling and laundering Tk 252.2 million of the Grameen Telecom Workers' Profit Participation Fund.
Judge of the Special Judge's Court-4 in Dhaka Md Rabiul Alam passed the order after a detailed hearing on charge framing.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun, who appeared for the Grameen Telecom officials, confirmed the court order to the FE.
"The court framed charge in the case on June 12 this year. We've challenged the charge framing order in the High Court. The HC has fixed July 21 to pass order on our petition. Mentioning the issue we placed a time prayer to this court and considering our petition the court set August 5 for further proceeding in the case."
Lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kazal took part in the hearing on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the plaintiff organisation of the case.
Charges were also framed against 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.
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.
Meanwhile, Prof Yunus and other accused appeared in the court on Monday. After the court order, in a reaction, Prof Yunus said, "It's nice to think that none of us had to go into an iron cage today. I think the iron cage should be removed from the courts as soon as possible."
Investigation Officer of the case Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, also Deputy Director of the ACC, on February 1, 2024 submitted the charge-sheet against Prof Yunus and 13 others in the case.
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. Accused Kamrul Hasan's name was included after investigation.
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