A Dhaka court on Wednesday framed charges against Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in a case filed over misappropriation of about Tk 25 crore of Grameen Telecom Workers Welfare Fund.
After framing charges, Judge Syed Arafat Hossain of Dhakas Special Judges Court-4 fixed July 15 for beginning of the trial.
Dr Yunus and 13 others, now on bail, pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge read out the charges to them.
Before that, the judge dismissed the petitions submitted for discharging them from the charges.
The 13 other accused who have to face trial 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.
The 83 years old former professor of Economics of Chittagong University, Prof Muhammad Yunus, was present in the court during Wednesdays hearing.
On June 2 the same court heard the hearing on charge framing and fixed Wednesday to pass an order whether to frame charges or not against Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in the case. As per June 2 hearing, the court passed order regarding charge framing.
Investigation Officer Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, Deputy Director of the ACC on February 1, submitted charge sheet before the Metropolitan Senior Special Judges Court of Dhaka.
On May 30 last year, Gulshan Anwar filed the case with the ACCs integrated district office in Dhaka.
According to the case statement, a decision was made at the companys 108th board meeting, presided over by Dr Yunus, on May 9 in 2022, to open a bank account at the Gulshan branch of Dhaka Bank. However, it was found that the account was already opened a day before the meeting.
Over Tk 25 crore was transferred to the account on different occasions, as per "fake settlement agreements" and the decision of the board.
However, before distributing the share of the companys profit to the workers and informing them, the accused, in collusion with each other, embezzled about Tk 25 crore from the fund.
On April 2, the Metropolitan Senior Special Judges Court of Dhaka accepted the charge sheet against the 14 accused. On that day, the court also transferred the case to the Special Judges Court-4 of Dhaka for the next course of action.
