Home ›› 05 Jun 2022 ›› Front
After a five-year legal battle, Grameen Telecom’s Chairman Prof Muhammad Yunus has agreed to pay the dues of sacked workers and employees in fear of the company’s possible liquidation of Grameen Telecom and loss of around Tk 1,000 crore in yearly dividends from Grameen Phone.
Sources said Dr Yunus – a Nobel laureate – had hired a lobbyist firm last year to win the cases lodged against him and the Grameen Telecom, but he recently reached an out of court settlement with the workers.
Yusuf Ali, a lawyer representing workers and employees of Grameen Telecom, told The Business Post, “Dr Yunus and his company came to a settlement after facing the prospect of liquidation and losing Tk 1,000 crore in dividend profits from Grameenphone every year.
“Grameen Telecom authorities offered us an out-of-court settlement soon after the aggrieved [employees] filed a writ petition with the High Court in February this year, seeking liquidation of the company.”
Grameen Telecom and Grameen Phone (GP) are two separate companies, and the former entity owns 34.20 per cent share in GP. The Grameen Telecom received Tk 1,300 crore in dividends in 2019 alone.
But the company never paid 5 per cent of these dividends to the workers’ welfare fund, despite having a legal obligation to share these profits with their employees. The arrears were accumulated to an estimated Tk 437 crore.
Employees have been at loggerheads with Grameen Telecom’s management since the company started receiving profit from Grameen Phone in 2011.
They claimed to be entitled to profit sharing received from GP, but the authorities were reluctant to distribute the money among them. The employees then started protesting and holding various programmes seeking their share of profits.
Finding no way out, in 2017, the workers filed a total of 110 cases with labour court and High Court seeking their arrears. A Dhaka labour court also issued an arrest warrant against Dr Yunus on October 9, 2019, and later, he secured bail after surrender.
After Dr Yunus recently agreed to a settlement in fear of his company’s liquidation, workers and employees finally withdrew all 110 cases filed against the Nobel laureate and his organisation, sources said.
On May 23, the High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar also dismissed a petition filed by the workers and employees seeking liquidation of the company, after lawyers for both the parties informed the bench about the out-of-court settlement.
Lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan, who represented Grameen Telecom, said, “The organisation’s officials and workers have been demanding a part of the company’s profits under the labour law for the last 10 to 12 years.
“In the last month, the management and employees reached a mutual understanding over the claim. The money has already been paid to them. So, all cases filed against the company and Dr Yunus have been withdrawn.”
Kamruzzaman Apollo, president of Grameen Telecom Union of Workers and Employees, told The Business Post, “We withdrew the cases following the recent settlement. The company will disburse the dues in phases.”
When asked why Dr Yunus agreed to pay the dues, Apollo said “He [Dr Yunus] might have thought that his reputation would be tarnished at home and abroad for the non-payment of workers dues, so he agreed.”
However, there have been discussions that Dr Yunus agreed to pay the dues of the workers after the prime minister heavily criticised him.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina recently at a programme blamed Dr Muhammad Yunus for blocking World Bank’s funding of the Padma bridge project.
She had said, “Yunus had tried to block the funds for Padma Bridge merely for the post of MD at Grameen Bank. He should be dunked into the Padma River twice. He should be just dunked just a bit and then pulled out so he doesn’t die, and then pulled up onto the bridge.
“That perhaps will teach him a lesson. Dr Yunus stopped the funding for Padma Bridge. Why? So he could hold onto the post of Grameen Bank MD.”
Lawyer Yusuf Ali, who is representing Grameen Telecom workers, said, “Dr Yunus agreed to pay the dues in fear of losing Tk 1,000 crore in annual profits from GP, and not in fear of the prime minister’s criticism.
“I had filed a writ petition with the High Court on behalf of sacked Grameen Telecom workers seeking liquidation of the company under the Company Act. A day after the writ, Grameen Telecom’s lawyer called me and offered a settlement, because Grameen Telecom has 34% shares in GP and they receive a profit of Tk1,000 crore every year.”
He added that if the company shuts down, it will not receive this profit anymore, and that is the key reason behind their decision to pay the workers’ dues.
IFED sues Dr Yunus for violating labour law
Earlier on September 9, 2021, Inspection for Factories and Establishments Department (IFED) filed a case against Grameen Telecom Chairman Dr Yunus and its three other top officials on charges of violating labour laws.
SM Arifuzzaman, a labour inspector (General) of the IFED filed the case with the Third Labour Court of Dhaka against them. According to the case statement, on August 16 this year, the IFED officials inspected the office of Grameen Telecom in the capital’s Mirpur area and found violations of labour laws.
On August 19, the department sent a letter to the authorities of Grameen Telecom, mentioning that its 67 employees were supposed to be made permanent, but the move has not been carried out as yet.
The employee’s participation fund and welfare fund have not been formed. Besides, 5 per cent of the company’s dividends were supposed to be paid to the workers, but it was not paid, read the statement.
Yunus under BFIU scanner
In January this year, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank sought bank account details from Dr Muhammad Yunus.
The BFIU sent letters to banks seeking information on all types of accounts held by Yunus and credit card transactions by him.
This is not the first time this has happened. Back in 2015, he was summoned by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) authorities over the non-payment of taxes to the tune of $1.51 million.
