We were confined in a cage for long today, this is very insulting: Dr Yunus

Nobel laureate economist Dr Muhammad Yunus, after being accused in a money laundering case, said on Wednesday, “Today we were in a cage for a long time. We were told to be there. We were in an iron cage all the time. I raised the question earlier whether it is fair or not. As far as I know, the accused will be presumed innocent as long as he is not found guilty.”

Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 framed charges against Dr Muhammad Yunus and 14 others on Wednesday in a case filed on the allegation of money laundering. Later, Dr Muhammad Yunus spoke to the media in the court premises.

Muhammad Yunus said he is under constant humiliation. “I am not acquainted with the terms like money laundering, money embezzlement and fraud. Nevertheless, I have been accused of these. We are being subjected to harassment.”

Muhammad Yunus further said, “We have spent our whole life for the service of the people. We have spent our own money to do that. This is our history. We don’t understand why we are being subjected to such serious harassment.”

“It has been said that I am a bloodsucker, an enemy of the country, I stopped the funding from the World Bank for the Padma Bridge and that I conspired against the nation. This is nothing but harassment. I was forcefully ousted from the Grameen Bank.”

Muhammad Yunus further said, “The system of innocent citizens standing in a cage during the hearing is quite insulting to me. This is a shameful act and should not be applied to anyone. This system should be reconsidered.”

He further said, “Why would a citizen have to stand on the dock like an animal during hearing in a civilised country, when he or she is yet to be convicted. The lawyers and people affiliated with the judiciary should review whether this system should stay or not. It should be as it is in the entire civilised world so that we can be in the list of civilised countries.”

Meanwhile, the court has fixed 15 July to record deposition. Dr Yunus and other accused in the case claimed innocence during framing charges. They demanded justice to the court.

Earlier, the hearing on framing charges ended on 2 June. The court on that day fixed 12 June as the day for framing charges. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted the charge sheet in the case filed against 14 persons, including Dr Yunus, on 1 February, on the allegation of embezzling Tk 252.2 million from the profits of the Grameen Telecom workers.

Apart from Dr Yunus, managing director of Grameen Telecom Nazmul Islam; director and former managing director of the company Ashraful Hasan; directors Parveen Mahmud, Nazneen Sultana, Md Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum and SM Hajjatul Islam Latifi; lawyer Md Yusuf Ali and Zafrul Hasan Sharif; president of Grameen Telecom Workers Union Kamruzzaman; general secretary Feroz Mahmud Hasan; the representative of the labour union Mainul Islam and secretary of the National Labour Federation Kamrul Hasan were made accused in the case.

Kamrul Hasan’s name was included in the charge sheet after investigation. Others were mentioned in the case statement.

ACC deputy director Gulshan Anwar lodged the case as the main plaintiff on 30 May 2023. According to the investigation report, the accused have embezzled Tk 252 million. The money was transacted illegally, which is considered a crime according to the Money Laundering Prevention Act.

According to the ACC, the Grameen Telecom board, at a meeting on 9 May, 2022, decided to open a bank account to share profits with the employees. Its chairman Dr Yunus and managing director Nazmul Islam were present in the meeting. As per the decision, they opened the bank account in the Gulshan branch of Dhaka Bank on 8 May.

The ACC said an agreement was signed between the workers union and Grameen Telecom on 27 April that year for disbursing dividends to the employees.

The agreement mentioned that the account was opened on 8 May, which is impossible in reality. It was done by forging documents.

The ACC said as per the agreement and the decision of the 108th board meeting of Grameen Telecom, an amount of Tk 4.37 billion was transferred from the Mirpur branch of United Commercial Bank (UCB) to the Gulshan branch of Dhaka Bank on 10 May 2022. The dividends were embezzled without disbursing to the employees.

However, the lawyer of Dr Yunus, Abdullah Al Mamun told Prothom Alo Grameen Telecom reached a negotiation with the employees when they went to court to demand dividends.

As per the negotiation, the employees demanded an advance of Tk 250 million as the expenses of lawyers. The fund was for the purpose and employees provided written consent in this regard.

Abdullah Al Mamun also mentioned that the particular place of the contract was left blank as the employees were delaying in opening the bank account. Later, both parties filed bank account numbers. It was done through consents.

A total of 176 employees of Grameen Telecom filed more than 100 lawsuits seeking their dividends and took the issue to the High Court. Later, Grameen Telecom reached a negotiation with them.

According to the lawyers of Dr Yunus, Grameen Telecom employees withdrew the lawsuits in May 2022 after being paid through the settlement. Later, the ACC filed a case describing the payment as embezzlement.

Abdullah Al Mamun also said the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), as per the government order, issued a letter to the ACC. But they cannot do that. As Dr Yunus raised voices in this regard, the ACC hurriedly submitted charge sheets against him. It was a humiliation to him.

Meanwhile, the labour court in Dhaka on 1 January this year sentenced Dr Yunus and three others to six months imprisonment each in a case filed by the DIFE.

The verdict was challenged in an appeal with labour appeal tribunal on 28 January which the tribunal accepted for hearing.