Metropolis Desk-
In a labor law violation case today, Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and three other high-ranking Grameen Telecom officials received six months in prison.
Delivering the decision was Sheikh Merina Sultana, the chairman of Dhaka’s Third Labor Court.
Following the decision, the judge granted the bail requests that Yunus and the other three officials had submitted separately.
Leading officials Ashraful Hassan, Nurjahan Begum, and Mohammad Shahjahan are among those sentenced, while Prof. Yunus is the chairman of Grameen Telecom.
At 1:42 PM, they made their courtroom appearance.
The court scheduled today, December 24, for the verdict to be delivered.
It framed charges against them on June 6. It also captured the testimony of four witnesses for the prosecution.
The case was filed with the court on September 9, 2021, by Labor Inspector (General) SM Arifuzzaman of the Inspection for Factories and Establishments Department.
The case documents state that on August 16, 2021, IFED officials inspected Grameen Telecom’s office in Mirpur, the capital, and discovered multiple labor law violations.
In a letter to Grameen Telecom’s management on August 19 of that year, the department stated that 67 of its workers were expected to become permanent hires. But according to the case statement, it wasn’t finished.
It further stated that five percent of the company’s dividends that were meant to be distributed to the employees were not. Additionally, the employee participation and welfare funds had not yet been established.
