Kolkata: A Dhaka court on Monday sentenced Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, chairman of Grameen Telecom, and three others to six months in jail for labour law violations.
The timing of the verdict, coming as it did 6 days before the national polls, has raised eyebrows in Dhaka.
Yunus, 83, got international fame for lifting millions of Bangladeshis out of poverty with his microfinance bank, Grameen Bank. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 but has been at loggerheads with the Sheikh Hasina government. Hasina has accused him of “sucking blood from the poor”.
Concerned over the several cases against Yunus, more than 170 global leaders, including former US president Barack Obama, had urged Hasina to suspend all legal actions against him.
Hasina responded by saying she would welcome international experts and lawyers to come to Bangladesh to assess the legal proceedings and examine documents involving the charges against Yunus.
Dhaka Labour Court 3 judge Sheikh Marina Sultana announced the verdict on Monday. Yunus and the others were later granted bail.
The court also fined them Bangladeshi Taka 5,000 under one section and Taka 25,000 under another, in default of which they would have to spend an additional 10 and 15 days in prison.
The judge gave them one month to file an appeal in the high court to challenge the judgement.
Yunus and the three other accused in the case — Grameen Telecom CEO Md. Ashraful Hassan, Managing Director M. Shahjahan and Trustee Nurjahan Begum — appeared in court at 1:35pm.
After concluding arguments in the case on 24 December, the court set Monday for the verdict.
Yunus was facing more than 100 other charges over labour law violations and alleged graft. After one of the hearings last month, the Nobel laureate told reporters that he had not profited from any of the more than 50 social business firms he had set up in Bangladesh.
In the 84-page verdict, the judge found the charges against the accused were proven. However, the four were granted bail for one month on condition of appeal and will not need to go to prison immediately.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun, representing the defence, said his clients had not received justice and will challenge the decision with a higher court.
On 9 September, 2021, a case was filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment against Yunus and three others for violating labour laws.
According to case files, the department noticed several labour law violations during an inspection at Grameen Telecom.
The violations include failing to permanent the jobs of 101 workers and employees, not forming a workers’ participation fund and welfare fund, and failing to provide 5 percent of the company’s dividend to workers.
With agency inputs
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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