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Published : 04 Apr 2024, 01:58 AM
The Anti-Corruption Commission has prosecuted eight current and former members of North South University's Board of Trustees for misusing over Tk 100 million by purchasing luxury cars.
The watchdog’s Deputy Director Md Anwarul Haque filed the lawsuit at ACC’s integrated district office in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The accused are - Benazir Ahmed, MA Kashem, Rehana Rahman, Azim Uddin Ahmed, Md Shahjahan, Yasmin Kamal, Fawzia Naaz and Tanveer Harun. Three of the eight still sit on the university’s trustee board.
Haque said eight Range Rovers, a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota Prado were purchased for Tk 269.5 million per the decision of several trustees in 2019.
The university later sold the 10 vehicles, purchased illegally by violating Section 44 (7) of the Private University Act 2010, at Tk 173 million three years after the procurement.
The university faced a loss of Tk 96 million due to the procurement and sale of the vehicles. Fuel and driver’s salary also cost over Tk 8 million, Haque said in the case statement.
“As a result, the defendants embezzled a total of Tk 104.7 million and committed a crime punishable under Sections 409, 420, 109 of the Penal Code and Section 49 of the Private University Act 2010 and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947."
The majority of the trustees are no longer on the board, Haque said, citing an initial investigation.
The ACC said the university had previously faced various allegations of taking additional fees from the students, embezzling money in the name of FDR and fraud of millions of takas by promising jobs to wives and relatives of university staff members.
Earlier in 2022, the commission started a case against six people, including the chairman of NSU’s trustee board, for allegedly misappropriating more than Tk 3 billion from the university's funds for purchasing land for its campus.
Charges have been pressed in the case but the trial is yet to finish.
