Staff Reporter, Dhaka
A court in Dhaka sentenced Nobel Laureate economist and Grameen Telecom Chairman Dr Muhammad Yunus and three others to six months in prison and fined Tk 25,000 each in a case filed on charges of violating the labour law.
Dhaka’s third labour court’s judge Begum Sheikh Merina Sultana pronounced the verdict around 3:0pm.
The other three facing the penalty are Grameen Telecom’s former managing director Md Ashraful Hasan, directors Nur Jahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.
The maximum punishment in this case is six-month imprisonment and a fine of Tk 25,000.
On 9 September in 2021, Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) filed the case against Dr Yunus and three others alleging that they violated the labour law. The court on 6 June framed charges against Yunus and three others in the case.
Yunus and others filed a petition with the Appellate Division seeking to scrap the trial proceeding in the case. The appellate Division on 20 August last year rejected the petition.
The labour court then started taking depositions of witnesses on 22 August. Four officials of DIFE gave depositions against Dr Yunus and others.
Judge Merina Sultana on 24 December fixed 1 January as the date for the announcement of the verdict in this case.