Dhaka, July 15 (V7N)- Nobel laureate economist Dr. Muhammad Yunus has appeared in court to attend in a case where allegations of embezzling BDT 25 crore 22 lakh from the Workers Welfare Fund of Grameen Telecom have been filed against him.

He appeared before Special Judge Court-4 of Dhaka on Monday (July 15) at 11 am. The day for recording statements in this case has been fixed. However, an application has been filed for postponing the recording of statements by Yunus's lawyers.

The 14 accused in this case include Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Grameen Telecom, Managing Director Mo. Nazmul Islam, Director and former Managing Director Mo. Ashraful Hasan, Director Parveen Mahmud, Nazneen Sultanah, Mo. Shahjahan, Noorjahan Begum, Director S. M. Hazzatul Islam Latifi, Advocate Mo. Yusuf Ali, Advocate Zafarul Hasan Sharif, President of Grameen Telecom Workers Union Mo. Kamruzzaman, Editor-in-Chief Firoz Mahmud Hasan, Director of Workers Union Office Kamrul Hasan, and representative Mo. Mainul Islam.

According to sources, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, along with board members including Managing Director Nazmul Islam, attended the 108th board meeting held on May 9, 2022, and decided to open an account at Gulshan Branch of Dhaka Bank. A settlement agreement was reached between Grameen Telecom Workers Union and Grameen Telecom on April 27 of that year for the distribution of workers' provident fund benefits.

Although the decision to open the account was made on May 9, the account was actually opened on May 8. As per the terms of the settlement agreement, BDT 437,121,621 was transferred from United Commercial Bank's Mirpur Branch to Dhaka Bank's Gulshan Branch on May 10, 2022.

In the subsequent 109th board meeting of Grameen Telecom held on June 22, an additional BDT 100,638,938 was approved to be paid as lawyer fees. On the other hand, before distributing the workers' benefits, an amount totaling BDT 26,226,780 was transferred three times from the account of Dutch-Bangla Bank's Mirpur Branch under the names of SIBA leaders Mo. Kamruzzaman, Mo. Mainul Islam, and SIBA leader Firoz Mahmud Hasan. Similarly, a total of BDT 400 million was transferred from the accounts of Advocate Mo. Yusuf Ali's Commercial Bank of Silona Dhaka Branch and BDT 5 million from the Gulshan Branch of City Bank, and a joint account of Advocates Zafarul Hasan Sharif and Mo. Yusuf Ali's Standard Charter Bank North Gulshan Branch. , Which they did not receive.

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