Let the Yunus Chapter Unfold

 

The Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Professor Yunus again grabs the headlines by appearing at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) office in person. It has been very obliging of the Nobel laureate to have responded to the summon of the anti-graft watchdog in his own person though he was proposed by the Commission to undergo the interrogation phase at his own place. That’s the spirit. Itis a gesture of goodwill towards compliance with the rule of law. Finally, he has awakened to the realization that 170 global leaders or 100 Nobel laureates would not be of any help when it comes to standing trial. His lawyer, Mr. Abdullah Al Mamun, however, claims that the incumbent government has had the cases filed by the workers of Yunus’ organizations against the Nobel laureate. We wonder how, he, being a professional lawyer, can make such remarks in public that amounts to being sub judice. As a reasonably informed member of the Bar, he was not expected to be involved in such unprofessional conduct. 

The learned lawyer was seen fulminating on the ACC premises in front of the journalists and was finally pacified by the Nobel laureate. We find no reason as to why to express anger in public. Well, he can use any means within the law to get his client off. But that does not mean to be shouting anger flagrantly in public instead of defending his client in court. Not only that, during the global signature campaign, just a month ego, in favour of Dr. Yunus’ escaping the trial, the head of the government ensured that Dr. Yunus could hire lawyers from any corner of the globe to defend him in court if he deems fit. Why, then, the defendant’s side is not taking the advantage of the government’s overt declaration. It is better to hire lawyers from abroad undisguised than to employ lobbyists disguised to fish for favour. Because to bring a Nobel laureate to justice must be a big deal. It is not a mockery of justice and they will handle it with care. The ACC prosecution drops a broad hint that they have prima facie evidence against the accused.

However, Professor Yunus is not the first or only Nobel laureate to be going on trial.  Ales Bialiatski, Belarus's top human rights advocate and the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner was sentenced to a decade in prison being convictedon charges of smuggling. US scientist and a Nobel prize winner John Robert Schrieffer was also sentenced to two years in prison in 2005 for his involvement in an automobile accident which killed one person and injured several people. Schrieffer was a renowned scientist, but his Nobel winning status could not save him from incarceration caused by an inadvertent offence. Another Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson had been stripped of his honorary titles due to racist remarks.  It sounds very strange when we see an ex-President, ex-foreign minister and several Nobel Prize winners of Schrieffer’s country move heaven and earth to help a defendant of another country to evade trial. It really frustrates us when we see such dignitaries abusing their status to take advantage of law.

Some however, are trying to cash in on the fact that Professor Yunus is facing a lot more cases (174) filed on allegations of labour law violation, money laundering, corruption and the like over the past one decade, which might seem to be an expression of the king’s wrath. However, the government claims that they filed no case against Professor Yunus. According to lawyers and court officials, the cases were filed either by the aggrieved Grameen Telecom workers on the allegation of non-payment of 5 per cent of the company’s net profit to workers in dividend; or by the Grameen Kalyan workers or Grameen Communications and Grameen Fisheries on the allegation of labour law violation by non-payment of dividend. The ACC prosecuted Dr. Yunus on charge of corruption and money laundering. On the contrary, Dr. Yunus himself filed eight cases challenging notices issued by the National Board of Revenue on allegation of tax evasion (New Age, Sept. 8, 2023).

Some facts and figures obtained from reliable secondary sources may help us to figure out how crucial it is to delve into the ongoing state of affairs regarding Professor Yunus in Bangladesh. On May 30, 2023, the ACC filed a case against thirteen people including eight members of the Grameen Telecom Governing Body, three employees’ leaders and two employees’ lawyers for embezzling and laundering money through corruption during the payment of 5 percent of the company’s net profit to workers in dividend. Dr. Yunus and other accused were summoned at ACC office on October 4 and 5, 2023. Now it is crucial that people should know exactly what happened to the Grameen Telecom workers and why they felt aggrieved. The Grameen Telecom Mobile Operator under Dr. Yunus’ control owns 34.02% of Grameen Phone. Grameen Telecom makes a hefty profit of thousand crores of taka every year from Grameen Phone. Though the workers of a company are entitled to 5% of the net profit as per the 2006 labour law, Grameen Telecom, claiming itself a non-profit organization, did not give any amount of dividend to its workers. In 2017, a number of 27 workers filed a case in the labour court. Later, more workers filed cases and the number exceeded a hundred. Despite being in litigation with the workers, Grameen Telecom remained steadfast in its determination not to give the workers their part of the dividend. On the contrary, they fired as many as 99 workers at a moment’s notice. Later the workers were reinstated in their posts by an order of the high court.  On February 7, 2022, the Employees Union of Grameen Telecom lodged a writ petition to the High Court seeking its liquidation. In that petition, the workers union has brought specific allegations against their authority of depriving the employees of their due dividend, laundering hundreds of crores of taka belonging to Grameen Telecom to different accounts, and lobbying to bring the verdicts of the ongoing cases in their favour. The union called for the court’s intervention to pay the workers’ dues off by liquidating the company.

When the writ petition was accepted by the court as litigation, the Grameen Telecom authority agrees to pay the workers’ dues on condition of withdrawing all the cases filed against them and of going for forced retirement. It is quite evident that, if the Grameen Telecom authority had been legally and morally right, they would not have struck an unethical bargain like that. Rather, they would have waited for the dispensation of justice. Agreeing to pay off the workers’ due on condition testifies to the fact that they had been depriving the workers of their dues for long.

On April 27, 2022 a settlement agreement was signed between the Grameen Telecom and the employees. On May 9, 2022, the 108th meeting of Grameen Telecom’s governing body chaired by Professor Yunus, arrived at the decision of giving an amount of Tk. 437 crore to the employees against their dividend. Following the decision, a separate account was opened under the name of Grameen Telecom on May 10, 2022 in which Tk. 437 crore was transferred. Although the whole amount was meant for the employees, before the process of disbursement of the dividends starts, an amount worth 26 crore 22 lakh was transferred to a separate account in the Dutch Bangla Bank under the name of Grameen Telecom Employees Union. Three leaders of the Union namely—Md. Kamruzzaman, Firoz Mahmud Hasan and Md. Moinul Islam received Tk. 3 crore each. Besides, two employees’ lawyers—Advocate Yusuf Ali and Advocate Zafrul Hasan Sharif were given a total amount of Tk. 16 crore. And the fact remains, the Grameen Telecon authority immorally gave three employees’ leaders and two employees’ lawyers an amount of Tk. 25 crore which was part of the employees’ long overdue dividend.

There’s something going on here. There are specific rules in the prevailing labour law regarding the disbursement of dividends. There is no need for separate settlement agreements in this regard. Grameen Telecom seems to have gone for these settlement agreements to give undue advantage to their henchmen—three employees’ leaders and two employees’ lawyers, and this must have been done with full knowledge and approval of Dr. Yunus. Has anybody ever heard that the defendant’s side is paying for the lawyers of the plaintiff’s side? There are more surprises in store for us. Out of the amount of Tk. 16 crore given to the lawyers, only 01 crore has been deposited in the lawyers’ Law Firm account. The rest 15 crore was transferred to different accounts. They opened a joint account in the Chartered Standard Bank with Tk. 6 crore in which they identified themselves as the project coordinator of an NGO called “Foundation for Man”. Had the lawyers been legally paid, they would not have transferred the money to a separate account opened under false identity. Why were the three employees’ leaders and two lawyers given much more than their due? What do they have in mind? How would the Nobel Laureate dissociate himself from these overall schemes of things? Hoping all will be unfolded by the ACC investigation and the court.

 And if they can establish beyond reasonable doubt that the concerned allegations brought against Professor Yunus are true, they should go for legal action against him. And the Professor should wise up to it and consider an appeal to the higher court. The point is, the government should give Dr. Yunus every reasonable opportunity to defend him in court. He should be allowed to enjoy the presumption of innocence. If he wins the legal battle, we all welcome him. But if he loses, I mean, if he is convicted in the highest appellate court for his part in the allegations brought against him, he should accept it gracefully. This is the real spirit of law. It should not be broken with impunity for a Nobel Laureate.


Dr. Rashid Askari is a
freethinking writer, academic,
translator and former vice
chancellor of Islamic
University Bangladesh.