Government, not workers, filed case against me: Dr Yunus

Grameen Telecom Chairman and Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus on Sunday claimed that it was the government, not the workers of his company, who filed the labour law violation case against him.

"High-level government officials have been repeatedly saying that this case was not filed by the government. But that is not true," the nobel laureate told reporters after receiving bail in the case from the Labour Appellate Tribunal in Dhaka.

"The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments is a government organisation. The government filed the case, not the workers," he said.

Earlier on the day, Dr Yunus and three other officials of the company were granted bail in a case filed over labour law violation.

The Labour Appellate Tribunal accepted the appeal and granted bail after Dr Yunus appeared before the tribunal and applied for bail, Yunus's lawyer Barrister Abdullah Al-Mamun told the media.

On 1 January, the Dhaka Labour Court-3 sentenced four people, including Dr Yunus to six months in prison. At the same time, they were fined Tk30,000 each in a case filed on charges of violating labour law.

The charges include failing to provide a 5% dividend to the Grameen Telecom workers, not regularising 101 staff, and not compensating workers for public holidays.

The other three accused in the case are – Grameen Telecom's Director (former managing director) Md Ashraful Hassan, and members of the Board of Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.