The High Court (HC) on Thursday granted bail to two former members of the board of trustees of North-South University (NSU) bail on condition in a case over laundering around Tk 304 crore in the name of buying land for the campus.Ex-NSU trustee board members MA Kashem and Rehana Rahman were granted bail on condition that they will not leave the country and enter the NSU campus without permission, said Lawyer Shah Monjurul Hoque.
The HC bench of Justice SM Quddus Zaman and Justice Fahmida Quader passed the order . Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) while Lawyer Shah Monjurul Hoque and Syed Ahmed Raja for the accused. On August 2, the HC issued a rule seeking explanation as to why the two NSU trustee board members should not be granted bail in this case.
On May 22, the court ordered Shahbagh police to arrest four NSU trustees after rejecting their anticipatory bail pleas in the case.The other accused trustees are- Benazir Ahmed and Muhammad Shahjahan. On May 5, the ACC sued the chairman of the board of trustees of North South University (NSU) Azim Uddin Ahmed and five others for embezzling Tk 303.82 crore in the name of buying land for the campus. Another accused is- Managing director of Ashalaya Housing and Developers Limited Amin Mobammad Hilali.
ACC’s Deputy Director Farid Ahmed Patwar filed the case.The case states that over 9088 decimal land was bought in the name of campus development of NSU with the consent of some members of the Board of Trustees bypassing the approval of the University Syndicate, University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education.
They later withdrew cash from the buyer through cash checks in their own names and kept FDR in their own names.They unjustly benefited themselves by committing illegal activities through misuse of power and embezzling university and government funds, according to the case.In carrying out such illegal activities, they have committed a punishable offense by resorting to fraud and forgery and exchanging commissions.
