ACC approves charge sheet against Dr Yunus, 13 others in embezzlement case

Desk Report

Publisted at 6:15 PM, Mon Jan 29th, 2024

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has given its approval today for the filing of charges against Nobel laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in connection with a case involving the alleged misappropriation of around Tk 25 crore from the Grameen Telecom Workers' Profit Participation Fund

Professor Yunus serves as the chairman of the company.

The charge sheet will be presented before the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka tomorrow, said Investigation Officer Gulshan Anowar Prodhan, deputy director of ACC told media.

The case was initiated on May 30 of the previous year when Gulshan Anowar filed charges against Professor Yunus and 12 others at the integrated district office in Dhaka.

The other accused individuals are Grameen Telecom Managing Director Nazmul Islam, Directors Ashraful Hassan, Naznin Sultana, Parvin Mahmud, M Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and SM Huzzatul Islam Latifee, Sramik-Karmachari Union President Kamruzzaman, General Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan, lawyers Zafrul Hasan Sharif , Yusuf Ali and office representative Mainul Islam.

The name of another accused, Sramik-Karmachari Union Office Secretary Kamrul Hasan, was added to the charge sheet later.

According to the case statement, during the company's 108th board meeting, presided over by Prof Yunus on May 9, 2022, it was decided that a bank account would be opened to distribute Tk 437 crore among the employees as per its agreement with the Grameen Telecom Sramik Karmachari Union.

Sramik-Karmachari Union President Kamruzzmaan and General Secretary Firoz Mahmud signed the agreement on April 27 last year and the account was opened on May 8 with the Dhaka Bank's Gulshan branch.

"Since the bank account was opened after the signing of the agreement, the account number was not supposed to be mentioned in the agreement. But the account number was mentioned proving that the agreement was fake," reads the case statement.

"The Grameen Telecom chairman and the board members, in association with each other, produced the fake agreement to help misappropriate money and thus committed a crime under the Money Laundering Prevention Act," it adds.

"About Tk 364 crore was distributed among 156 employees between May 25 and June 12, 2022. However, about Tk 26.22 crore was transferred to another account with Dutch-Bangla Bank between May 17 and May 30 that year," reads the case statement.

"The money was transferred to another account without any written or verbal approval from the employees. From that account, the money was transferred to the personal accounts of the employees' union leaders and lawyers," added the case statement.

The ACC found that about Tk 1 crore was lawyers' fees and the rest of the money was misappropriated by the employee union leaders and lawyers.

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