Dhaka Special Judge鈥檚 Court-4 on Monday deferred recording the testimony of prosecution witnesses till August 5th in a case filed against Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and 13 others under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
Judge Md. Rabiul Alam passed the order accepting a time petition submitted by defense lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun.
Defense lawyers within the petition mentioned that it was filed with the High Court challenging the legality of an indictment by the court against the accused in the case.
The High Court will deliver on July 21st its order on the petition, filed by Yunus and six other officials of Grameen Telecom, they said.
Yunus and 13 other accused, now on bail, appeared before the court during the hearing. After coming out of court, Yunus told journalists at the court premises that 鈥檞e see that we are not getting justice.鈥�
鈥楢ll the people of the country understand what is in its background against this, and they will understand,鈥� he said.
In response to another question of whether he is a victim of political revenge or not, Yunus said, 鈥業 am a victim of something; it is clear. It can be called for due to revenge, or hate.鈥�
He also claimed that there is no basis for the charges brought against him.
On June 12th, the court framed charges against Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering microcredit, and others accused in the case.
The 13 other accused are Grameen Telecom managing director Nazmul Islam, directors Ashraful Hassan, Naznin Sultana, Parvin Mahmud, M Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and SM Huzzatul Islam Latifee, Sramik-Karmachari Union president Kamruzzaman, general secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan and representative Mainul Islam, Jatiya Workers Federation office secretary Kamrul Hasan, and lawyers Zafrul Hasan Sharif and Yusuf Ali.
On May 30th last year, ACC deputy director Gulshan Anwar Prodhan filed the case with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 under the Money Laundering Prevention Act on charges of embezzling Tk 25.22 crore of Grameen Telecom Workers鈥� Welfare Fund.