Six bank accounts of Grameen Telecom workers’ lawyer frozen

The lawyer of the workers dismissed from work at Grameen Telecom alleged on Sunday that at least six of his bank accounts have been frozen.

"I have checked with the Bangladesh Bank this morning – six of my accounts have been frozen," Advocate Md Yousuf Ali told the media on the Supreme Court premises.

On 30 June, the High Court raised the issue of the workers, who had once wanted liquidation of Grameen Telecom, now wanting withdrawal of the case as their lawyer had been "managed" for Tk12 crore.

The High Court was hearing a petition for the withdrawal of a case against Grameen Telecom that had sought liquidation of the company. 

The High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarker said the employees were forced to compromise as their lawyer had been managed in exchange of money.

The court expressed surprise at the lawyer's fee of Tk12 crore.

As many as 176 workers who were dismissed from Grameen Telecom appealed to the High Court for the company's liquidation as the company was not paying their dues of Tk437 crore.

Later, Grameen Telecom authorities negotiated with the workers through the lawyer.

The workers then appealed for the withdrawal of the liquidation case on 23 May showing conciliation as the cause. On the day of the hearing on 30 June, the court asked the workers to submit the conciliation contract paper and payment documents.

There should not be any irregularities in using the court and if everything does not occur as per the law, the matter would be dealt with seriously, the court said.