Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is facing 174 cases filed on allegations of labour law violation, money laundering, corruption and others over the past one decade during the Awami League rule. According to lawyers and court officials, aggrieved Grameen Telecom workers filed 62 cases on allegation of non-payment of 5 per cent of the company’s profit to workers in dividend.

The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments also filed a case against Yunus and others on charge of non-payment of dividend to the Grameen Telecom workers.

The Anti-Corruption Commission prosecuted Yunus on charge of corruption and a money laundering through the alleged non-payment of dividend.

Workers of Grameen Kalyan filed 69 cases, Grameen Communications filed 25 cases and Grameen Fisheries filed 8 cases on allegation of labour law violation by non-payment of dividend to them.

The rest eight cases were, however, filed by Yunus challenging notices issued by the National Board of Revenue on allegation of tax evasion.

Of the cases, 137 are pending with the Labour Court in Dhaka, 3 with the Labour Appellate Tribunal, 10 with the High Court, 6 with the Appellate Division, one each with a joint district judge court and a land survey court, and the rest 16 with different courts.

‘The incumbent government has had the cases filed by the workers of these organisations against the Nobel laureate,’ Yunus’s lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun said.

He said, ‘Two cases have been filed on criminal charges while the rest 172 are civil cases.’

The defence lawyer said that the trial against Yunus in the criminal case filed by the DIFE was going on at an ‘unusual speed’ for his conviction as the government intended to tarnish his image.

Denying the allegation, prosecutor Khurshid Alam Khan said that the case was filed on specific charge and the trial was going on at a usual pace.

He also claimed that Yunus’s lawyers were spreading propaganda terming the cases false.

The recent development in Yunus’s cases drew criticisms in home and abroad as global leaders, including Nobel laureates, expressed concerns over the cases.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on September 5 said that it was concerned by the continued ‘intimidation’ and ‘harassment’ of human rights advocates and civil society leaders in Bangladesh, including Yunus and two leaders of human rights organisation Odhikar, through legal proceedings.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Yunus, known for his work on poverty alleviation through Grameen Bank, faced harassment and intimidation for almost a decade.

On August 28, in an open letter sent by 183 global personalities, including 104 Nobel prize winners, urged prime minister Sheikh Hasina to suspend the legal proceedings against Yunus.

They also said that they were alarmed that Yunus was recently targeted by ‘continuous judicial harassment.’

The prime minister, however, responded to the global leaders at a recent press conference saying that she would welcome international experts and lawyers to come to Bangladesh to assess the legal proceedings.‘If they send the experts and lawyers, many more things will get revealed, which remain untouched,’ said Hasina.Pro-Awami League professionals keep issuing statements against the 183 global leaders’ call for halting trial against Yunus.

Deputy attorney general Imran Ahmed Bhuiyan, however, on September 4 said that he refused to be a signatory to a statement against the global leaders and alleged that state law officers were asked to sign the statement.

Law minister Anisul Huq on Friday said that deputy attorney general Imran Ahmed Bhuiyan was sacked for ‘breaching discipline’.On August 27, the Dhaka Labour Court 3 summoned Grameen Telecom chairman Yunus and two officials to appear before the court on October 16 and 18 as 18 former employees of the company filed 18 new cases against them on the day on allegation of labour law violation.

These are the latest cases against Yunus since he was removed from the office of pioneer microcredit firm Grameen Bank’s managing director in 2011 citing that he had crossed the public servants’ retirement age. His supporters, however, say the removal was politically motivated.Yunus launched Grameen Bank in late 1970s to offer microcredit to the poor. The model has been copied in many countries across the world.

The Dhaka Labour Court 3 on August 22 began the trial of Yunus and Grameen Telecom top officials Ashraful Hassan, Nurjahan Begum and M Shahjaha in the criminal case filed by the DIFE recording testimony of prosecution witness Tariqul Islam, also a labour inspector.

The next hearing is scheduled for September 13.

According to the case, filed on September 9, 2021, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments noticed several violations of labour law in inspection of the Grameen Telecom office.

The violations include failure to regularise jobs of 101 employees, establishment of no workers participation fund as well as welfare fund and non-payment of 5 per cent of the company’s profit to workers, the complaint said.

Another criminal case was filed on May 30, 2023 against Yunus and 12 others by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charge of embezzling Tk 25 crore from the company’s workers welfare fund and laundering the money.

The commission’s deputy director Gulshan Anowar Pradhan, also the plaintiff, is investigating the case.

The other accused are Grameen Telecom managing director Md Nazmul Islam, former managing director Md Ashraful Hasan, five directors Parveen Mahmud, Nazneen Sultana, Md Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum and SM Hajjatul Islam Latifi.

On August 30, now government-controlled Grameen Bank sent a letter signed by its managing director Md Mosleh Uddin to Grameen Communications, which is under the control of Yunus, stating that the contract between the two entities would not be renewed.

Grameen Communications may need to dismiss many of its about 900 staff members due to financial crisis to be face for the cancellation of the contract and that will caus those staff member to file more cases against Yunus, said his another lawyer Khaja Tanvir Ahmed.

Earlier in 2017, 176 Grameen Telecom workers filed 110 cases against Yunus and the company claiming over Tk 437 crore as part of the profits of the company under the labour law.

Of the cases, 104 were filed with the Dhaka Labour Court and the rest six with the High Court.

After five years of legal fight, on April 27, 2022, an agreement was signed between Grameen Telecom and ‘Grameen Telecom union of workers and employees’ on condition of payment of about Tk 437 crore to the employees.

Later, the 110 cases were withdrawn by the workers after they reached an out-of-court settlement over the claims of payment.The Grameen Bank and Yunus were jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2006 for helping millions out of poverty with microcredits.Analysts say prime minister Sheikh Hasina fell out with Yunus in 2007 when he tried to set up his own political party during the military-controlled interim government.In recent years, Hasina criticised Yunus for allegedly influencing the World Bank to cancel funding for the Padma Bridge project, an allegation Yunus denied.