‘Missing’ NSU graft case accused ‘found’ in Savar

Ashaloy Housing Managing Director (MD) Amin Mohammad Hilali, who had reportedly gone missing from Uttara on Friday, has been found alive in Savar.

Confirming the matter to The Business Standard, his brother Rafiqul Islam Hilali, said, "My brother was rescued from Hemayetpur in Savar around 11pm on Sunday.

"He made a call to his family using the phone of an autorickshaw driver after being released from captivity in Savar. Then they went there, after informing the police, and found him. He is now in his Uttara house."

"He [Amin Mohammad Hilali] told me over the phone that those who picked him up a few days back did not torture him. They had given him proper meals and necessary medical treatment.

"He has interrogated," he added.

However, when asked, Rafiqul refused to make any comments regarding the identity of the people who had "abducted" his brother.

Earlier yesterday, the family of Amin Mohammad Hilali requested the government to help trace the whereabouts of the North South University (NSU) trustee.

"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 8pm 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 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.