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Published : 11 Jul 2024, 05:42 PM
The High Court has held a hearing on Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’s challenge to his indictment in a case over the embezzlement of dividends for the Grameen Telecom employees.
The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Ebadoth Hossain heard his petition on Thursday and set Jul 21 for their decision.
Yunus was represented by his legal counsel Advocate Abdullah Al Mamun while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Anti-Corruption Commission at the hearing.
On Jun 12, the court of Dhaka 4th Special Judge Syed Arafat indicted Grameen Telecom Chairman Dr Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in a case over the embezzlement of dividends for the company’s employees. The court has scheduled the hearing of the case on Jul 15.
Gulshan Anwar Pradhan, deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, initiated the case in 2023. According to his probe report, the accused ‘embezzled’ over Tk 250 million from the Grameen Telecom workers' welfare fund. The money has been ‘transferred illegally’, which is a crime per the country’s money laundering prevention law.
According to the case dossier, an account was opened at Dhaka Bank’s Gulshan branch in the presence of Grameen Telecom board members including Yunus and Managing Director Md Nazmul Islam following the decision of the 108th board held on May 9, 2022. However, the bank account was opened a day earlier.
A settlement agreement was signed between the Grameen Telecom Employees Union and Grameen Telecom on Apr 27 of that year to distribute dividends owed to Grameen Telecom employees.
The case statement said the settlement also shows the bank account was opened on May 8, which is practically impossible. According to the terms of the 'fake' settlement and decision of the 108th board, Grameen Telecom transferred Tk 4.37 billion from United Commercial Bank's Mirpur branch to Dhaka Bank's Gulshan branch on May 10, 2022.
The transfer of another Tk 10 million as an advocate’s fee was approved later according to the decision of the 109th board held on Jun 22.
On the other hand, more than Tk 260 million was transferred in three phases from Dhaka Bank’s Gulshan branch account to Dutch Bangla Bank’s local office account named after the Grameen Telecom Workers Union.
However, Tk 30 million each was transferred to Dutch Bangla Bank’s Mirpur branch accounts of Grameen Telecom Workers-Employees Union President Md Kamruzzaman, the organisation’s General Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan and representative Md Mainul Islam at different times before the distribution of dividends to the employees without informing them of the amount they were due for a 'dishonest purpose'.
Accordingly, Tk 40 million was transferred to the Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s Dhanmondi branch account of lawyer Md Yusuf Ali, Tk 50 million to the City Bank’s Gulshan branch account and Tk 60 million to the joint account of lawyer Jafrul Hasan Sharif and lawyer Md Yusuf Ali in Standard Chartered Bank’s Gulshan North branch, which was not due to them.
According to the ACC, only Tk 10 million was transferred as advocates’ fees. The remaining Tk 252.2 million, was ‘misappropriated’ by the Grameen Telecom chairman, managing director, Grameen Telecom’s CBA leader and advocates with help from board members by breaching the settlement agreement.
Earlier on Jun 26, Advocate Md Yusuf Ali and Advocate Jafrul Hasan Shareef, two other suspects in the case, filed a petition similar to Yunus’s. However, the break time bench did not hear it. The hearing would be held by a regular bench after the break, it said.
