Prof Yunus acquitted in graft case

Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus has been acquitted in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) four days after his acquittal in the case filed for labour law violations.
The development came three days after the interim government led by Prof Yunus took oath after the resignation and departure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina amid a mass upsurge led by students on August 5.
Prof Yunus is now the chief adviser of the interim government, while Nurjahan Begum is its adviser. Nurjahan was also an accused in the graft case.
Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka today accepted an ACC application which was filed with the court, seeking withdrawal of prosecution of the case, following section 494 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, an ACC official, wishing not to be named, told The Daily Star.
A day before his oath, Prof Yunus, also chairman of Grameen Telecom, and its directors — Ashraful Hassan, M Shahjahan and Nurjahan Begum — also got acquittal in a labour law violation case in which they were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and fined Tk 30,000 each on January 1.
On June 12, Prof Yunus and 13 were indicted in the ACC case filed over misappropriation of about Tk 25.22 crore of Grameen Telecom Workers’ profit participation fund.
On February 1, Investigation Officer Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, a deputy director of the ACC, placed the charge sheet before the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court of Dhaka.
On April 2, the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court of Dhaka accepted the charges pressed against the 14 accused.
On that day, the court also transferred the case to the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka for the next course of action.
The 13 other accused are Grameen Telecom Managing Director Nazmul Islam, Directors Ashraful Hassan, Naznin Sultana, Parvin Mahmud, M Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and SM Huzzatul Islam Latifee, Sramik-Karmachari Union President Kamruzzaman, General Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan and representative Mainul Islam, Jatiya Workers Federation Office Secretary Kamrul Hasan, and lawyers Zafrul Hasan Sharif and Yusuf Ali.
On May 30 last year, Gulshan Anwar filed the case with the ACC’s integrated district office in Dhaka.