Family wants to know whereabouts of ‘missing’ NSU graft case accused

The family of Amin Mohammad Hilali, managing director of Ashaloy Housing, requested the government to help trace the whereabouts of the North South University (NSU) trustee who has reportedly gone missing from Uttara on Friday (1 July).

"There is a case against my brother. If he went into hiding to escape the lawsuit, the government should find him,"  Hilali's brother Rafiqul Islam said in a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Sunday (3 July).

"Everyone in the family is worried as my brother is still missing. We are not suspecting anyone and we have no complaints either. We just want to know his whereabouts," he added.

Rafiqul filed a general diary (GD) with Uttara West police station on Saturday after his brother went missing.

He said Amin Hilali left his house in Uttara driving his car at around 8 pm on Friday (1 July) for his office at Uttara Sector 13. Before leaving he asked the driver to contact him after 15 minutes.

However, Hilali's number was found switched off and he did not return.

Amin Hilali was one of the accused in North South University (NSU) graft case filed for allegedly helping some trustee board members embezzle Tk303 crore.

On 5 May, ACC Deputy Director Md Farid Ahmed Patwari filed a case against six people, including the chairman of the university's board of trustees, for embezzling Tk303.82 crore in the course of purchasing land for the university.

Besides the four members of the Board of Trustees, Azim Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the board, and Amin Mohammad Hilali, managing director of Ashaloy Housing and Developers Limited, were also charged.

According to the case statement, the money was embezzled under the guise of campus development with the consent of a few members of the trustee board, without informing the University Syndicate, the University Grants Commission, and the Ministry of Education.