With the connivance of some leaders of the Grameen Telecom employees’ union, Tk. 26 crore 22 lakhs have been plundered from the general employees. Meanwhile, Detective Police (DB) seized a check of Tk. 1 crore 70 lakh from Mainul Islam (39), Vice-president of Grameen Telecom Sramik-Karmachari Union. The Criminal Investigation Department of the police said that he was arrested from the Mogbari area of Comilla’s Sadar police station last Wednesday.
On Sunday (August 28), in a press conference at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) media center, DB Chief Mohammad Harun Or Rashid said that according to the Labor Act, 5 percent of the annual dividend was supposed to be paid to the employees, but it was not given. The authorities did not give the dividend citing various excuses such as ’employees are not permanent’, ‘company is unprofitable’. Last year, 99 workers were illegally retrenched from the company after employees demanded dividends at various times. Due to these reasons, the workers of the company filed 190 cases in the labor court. But by giving false assurances to the workers, the cases were withdrawn in connivance with the company and some union leaders.
According to the complaint, the contractual employment of the workers employed at various times in the Grameen Telecom Company was being continuously renewed without making them permanent. Besides, according to the Labor Act, 5 percent of the annual dividend was supposed to be given to Works Profit Participation Fund, Sramik Kalyan Fund and Sramik Kalyan Foundation in the ratio of 80:10:10; but the authorities did not give the dividend due to various excuses including ’employees are not permanent’ and ‘company is unprofitable’ and so on. 99 workers were illegally fired from the company last year when the employees made demands on these issues. Due to these reasons, the workers of the company filed 190 cases in the labor court. But the cases were dropped with the connivance of some leaders of the company and labor unions by giving false assurances to the workers.
Then on April 27, an agreement was signed between Grameen Telecom and Sramik-Karmachari Union. According to the agreement, a settlement account was opened at Dhaka Bank Gulshan branch on May 10. From the year 2010 to the current year 2022, 5 percent of the company’s total dividend and 4 percent of the company’s interest were deposited in this settlement account from the company. According to the agreement, the MD of Grameen Telecom is the mandatory signatory and the President and General Secretary of the union are kept as the other two signatories for withdrawal of money from the account.
Asmentioned by Mohammad Harun Or Rashid, all the workers’ dues should was supposed to be managed from this account. According to the agreement, no amount can be deducted from the settlement account other than workers’ dues and 5 percent advance tax. But with the connivance of the company’s management authority, the President, Vice-president and General Secretary of the employee union, along with a few others, removed 26 crore 22 lakh from the account and embezzled it.
Earlier, Mohammad Aktaruzzaman (38), a Grameen Telecom employee and Finance Secretary of the Telecom Union, complained to the Mirpur Model Police Station on July 4 regarding the embezzlement of the general employees’ money. The next day, President of Grameen Telecom Employees Union Md. Kamruzzaman and Secretary Feroz Mahmud Hasan were arrested. They gave a confessional statement in court.
Based on the questioning of the arrested Mainul Islam, DB Chief said, the senior authorities of Grameen Telecom have lured other employees of this organization including him with money and also threatened them at various times to withdraw all the cases filed against Grameen Telecom and encouraged the employee union to pay the lawyer appointed an unreasonable and exaggerated fees amounting about Tk. 16 crore.
Like other workers, Mainul Islam, after taking the legally due four crore taka, took an additional total of three crore taka including two crore in Dutch Bangla Bank account number-1151570042908 and one crore in BRAC Bank account number-2012083180002.
In addition, his two other colleagues, the President and the General Secretary of the Telecom Union, along with others have embezzled a total of nine crore taka.
In the interrogation, Mainul Islam also said that in addition to the temptation to pay dividends, extra money, the authorities spread the message in the Grameen Telecom office campus that the situation in Bangladesh will be like Sri Lanka and Dr. Yunus, the former chairman of Grameen Bank, will be the prime minister in the change of power.
Then these lawsuits of the workers will not be of any use, the workers will not get any compensation. On the contrary, they have to face other tortures including job loss, jail and so on. Basically, against this fear and uncertainty of getting nothing, they quickly withdrew the money on the advice of the lawyer with the lure of Tk. 437 crore from the Telecom Authority. The lawyer asked to ensure the confidentiality of this settlement matter.
“Of the 437 crore taka, 26 crore 22 lakh taka have been embezzled. Where did the rest of the money go?” When questioned, DB Additional Police Commissioner Mohammad Haroon Or Rashid replied, “We are investigating the matter.”
While asked, whether Dr. Yunus is involved with it or not, the DB chief said, “Initially we think he cannot avoid the responsibility. However, we are still interrogating the arrested. I will talk to senior officials about this. We will take action according to what comes in the investigation.”
In a press conference at the DMP media center, it was informed that if anyone else is involved in this irregularity, the police will also interrogate him if necessary. One of the three complaints against Grameen Telecom was, over a hundred lawsuits filed against Dr. Yunus by the workers, they were demanding the withdrawal of the cases by bribing the labor leaders and lawyers. Mainul Islam is one of the labor leaders who took bribe.