Citycell employees sue Chairman Morshed Khan, CEO Mehboob Chowdhury over back pay

Mobile operator Citycell's Chairman Morshed Khan and Chief Executive Officer Mehboob Chowdhury have been sued by employees over back pay.

On Monday, five employees of the company filed separate cases against eight officials with the labour court in Dhaka.

The court recorded the cases and ordered the top Citycall officials to appear before it on Oct 4, plaintiff counsel Tanjim al Islam told bdnews24.com.

Senior BNP leader and former foreign minister Khan heads the board of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd or PBTL, which uses Citycell as its brand name.

His wife Nasrin, who also sits on the board, has been named in the cases.

The others are PBTL Director Asghar Karim, Chief Financial Officer Tariqul Hasan and Provident Fund Trustees Mahfuzur Rahman, Nishat Ali and AB Sarkar.

The cases filed by employees Tipu Sultan, Kazi Ruhul Quddus, Hasan Mahmud, Sadik Milon and AKM Ahsanul Azad accuses the management of not paying salaries and allowances since September 2016.

The Citycell Employees' Association said that least 15 employees served legal notices over back pay a month ago and received no response.

"Around some 630 people still work for Citycell. The dues of 250 of those employees have been partially cleared. The others got nothing," the association's president Ashraful Karim told bdnews24.com.

Citycell Chairman Khan, his wife and CEO Chowdhury have been also prosecuted by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charges of embezzling over Tk 3.5 billion in bank loans.

The company, which was shut out from telecom market last year for failing to pay Tk 4.77 billion in government dues, had its spectrum allocation reinstated last month following a court order.