Bangladesh’s ACC sues Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus

May 30, 2023 1:39 pm

Dhaka: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 13 members of the board of directors of Grameen Telecom, including Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, over allegations of embezzling money from workers.

A highly placed source at the ACC confirmed the matter to Media on Tuesday.

The anti-graft watchdog found proof of embezzling Tk25.22 crore by the board of directors during its investigation.

Media could not reach Dr Yunus for comments on the matter.

Earlier, the ACC formed a three-member panel to investigate the four members of the board of directors of Grameen Telecom, including Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, over the allegations.

Additionally, the commission also sent a letter to the CEO and managing director of Grameen Telecom to provide a financial statement.

ACC Secretary Mahbub Hossain said that there are allegations against the four directors of the Grameen Telecom board regarding a transfer of about Tk3,000 crore to various affiliate organizations.

The complaint says that most of the transactions of Grameen Telecom since 1996 are suspicious.

Moreover, on an inspection visit to Grameen Telecom, the department found that 101 workers and staffers who were supposed to have been made permanent staff had not been made so.

No participation fund and welfare fund were formed for them and 5% of the company’s profits were not distributed to the workers in line with the law.

In light of the complaint, a case was filed under Sections 4, 7, 8, 117 and 234 of the Labour Act.

Yunus is the founding chair of Grameen Telecom, which owns a multi-billion dollar stake in Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone operator.

He has been credited with helping eradicate extreme poverty in Bangladesh by offering microfinance loans to tens of millions of rural women through Grameen Bank, which he founded in the 1980s.

He was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work promoting economic development — but was forced to relinquish his position as the bank’s managing director in 2011.

Yunus lost a subsequent challenge to his removal in the courts.