ACC okays charges against ex-NSU chairman, 4 trustees

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Thursday approved a charge sheet against nine people including North South University (NSU)’s former chairman Azim Uddin Ahmed in a case filed over embezzlement and laundering of Tk 303.82 crore.

The anti-graft body approved the charges against the nine accused including five NSU trustee board members from the commission’s Segunbagicha Headquarters in the capital, said ACC Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain.

After the ACC’s approval, the commission’s Deputy Director Farid Uddin Patwary, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the court.

Among the nine accused are former NSU chairman Azim Uddin Ahmed, also chairman of Mutual Group of Companies, and former trustees Benajir Ahmed, also managing director and CEO of Raymond Group of Industries; MA Kashem, chairman of Mutual Group of Industries; Rehana Rahman, MD of Bengal Tradeways Ltd; and Mohammed Shajahan, MD of Shah Fatehullah Textile Mills Ltd.

The other accused in the charge sheet are Ashaloy Housing and Developers Chairman Omar Faruk, its Managing Director Amin Md Hilaly, and directors Anwara Begum and Syed AK Haque.

Addressing a press briefing, ACC Secretary Mahbub Hossain said as per the Private Universities Act- 2010, the board of trustees is the highest authority of the university.

And the university is a charitable, welfare-oriented, non-commercial and non-profit educational institution as per the Memorandum of Association and Articles (Rules and Regulations) of the university, he said.

Mahbub Hossain also said ignoring the rules, the NSU trustee board members in accomplices with other accused embezzled Tk 303 crore showing the high price of a piece of land bought for the extension of the private university.

According to the case filed by ACC on May 5, the university trust had paid Tk 500 crore to Ashaloy Housing and Developers Ltd for purchasing a 250-acre land, which was bought at Tk 200 crore in 2016.

Later, the trustees embezzled the additional Tk 300 crore in connivance with the housing company. The land was purchased for the extension of the NSU campus, bypassing the approval of the university syndicate, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Education Ministry.

Among the nine accused, four NSU trustees — MA Kashem, Benajir Ahmed, Rehana Rahman and Mohammed Shajahan — are now in jail in connection with the graft case while the rest of the accused were shown fugitives in the charge sheet.