Nobel Laureate and Chief Adviser of interim government Prof Muhammad Yunus, and 13 others have been acquitted in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Md Rabiul Alam, judge of Dhaka Special Judge's Court-4, accepted an application on Sunday seeking to withdraw the prosecution of the case under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The application was submitted by ACC lawyer Mahmud Hossain Jahangir, Court Inspector of Anti-Corruption Commission Amir Hossain told UNB.`
Besides, the court also freed 3 bank accounts of Dr Yunus which were frozen earlier, he added.
Adviser of Health and Family Welfare Nurjahan Begum, who served as the acting managing director of Grameen Bank after the bank's founder Muhammad Yunus left the bank in 2011, was also an accused in the graft case.
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.
The 13 other accused in the case are: Grameen Telecom MD Nazmul Islam; Director Ashraful Hasan, former MD Parveen Mahmood; Najnin Sultana, Shahjahan, Noorjahan Begum, and S. M Hazzatul Islam Latifi, all serving as directors; along with Advocate Yusuf Ali; Advocate Zaforul Hasan Sharif; Md Kamruzzaman, President of the Union of Grameen Telecom Employees; Firoz Mahmud Hasan, General Secretary; Kamrul Hasan, office secretary of the Employees' Union office, and representative Mainul Islam.
Gulshan Anwar, the Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), filed the case as the primary complainant on May 30, 2023.
Earlier on January 1, Dr Muhammad Yunus and three top officials of Grameen Telecom were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined Tk 25,000 each, in a case over violation of labour law.
However, a day before his oath, Prof Yunus, and those three officials also got acquittal in that case.
