Court Correspondent

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday stayed the HC order granting bail to ex-NSU trustee board member MA Kashem, in a case over laundering around Tk 304 crore in the name of buying land for the campus.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order, said Advocate Khurshid Alam, a counsel of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), reports UNB.

The court also upheld the HC order granting bail to another former member of the trustee board Rehana Rahman in the case.

Advocates Murad Reza, Shah Manjurul Haque and Barrister Syed Ahmed Raza stood for the two accused.

The High Court (HC) on November 10 granted conditional bail to Kashem and Rehana in the case.

They were granted bail on condition that they will not leave the country and not set foot on the NSU campus without permission, said Lawyer Shah Monjurul Hoque.

Back in August, 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 Mohamed 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 permanent 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 committed a punishable offence by resorting to fraud and forgery and exchanging commissions.