Two ex-NSU trustees get conditional bail from HC

The High Court (HC) on Thursday granted conditional bail to two former North South University (NSU) trustee board members, in a case of laundering around Tk 3.04 billion in the name of buying land for the university campus, reports UNB.

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 defendants.

On 2 August, HC issued a rule seeking explanation as to why the two NSU trustee board members should not be granted bail in this case.

On 22 May, 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 5 May, the ACC sued Azim Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the board of trustees of North South University (NSU) and five others for embezzling about Tk 3 billion (3.0382) in the name of buying land for the university campus.

Another accused is the 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 more than 9,088 decimal of land was bought in the name of campus development of NSU with the consent of some members of the board of trustees.

It was done bypassing the approval of the University Syndicate, University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education.

They later withdrew cash from the buyer through cash cheques 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, it added.