The court granted bail to eight people including Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in alleged embezzlement of Tk. 25 crores of Grameen Telecom's employee welfare fund.

On Sunday (March 3) around 2:30 pm, Dhaka Metropolitan sessions Judge Court judge AS Shams Jaglul Hossain granted the bail.

Lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun represented the accused in the bail hearing. Lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajal opposed the bail on behalf of the Anti Corruption Commisison (ACC).

ACC prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam said that after the hearing, the court ordered their bail. At the same time, the date of receipt of charge sheet against 14 people has been set for April 2.

Earlier on February 1, ACC Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar Pradhan, the investigation officer of the case filed a charge sheet against 14 people including Professor Yunus in this case. The court had set March 3 as the date for receiving the charge sheet in the presence of the accused.

Among the other defendants are the Managing Director of Grameen Telecom Nazmul Islam, director and former managing director Ashraful Hasan, Director Parveen Mahmud, Nazneen Sultana, Md. Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, SM Huzzatul Islam Latifi, lawyer Md. Yusuf Ali and Zafrul Hasan Sharif, president of Grameen Telecom Sramik-Karmachari Union Md. Kamruzzaman, general secretary Feroz Mahmud Hasan, representative of the union Mainul Islam and office secretary Md. Kamrul Hasan.

Gulshan Anwar, the deputy director of ACC's Dhaka Integrated District Office-1, filed the case as the main plaintiff on the charge of embezzlement of Tk. 25,22,6,780 of Grameen Telecom's workers' welfare fund on May 30 last year.