Yunus was given a six-month prison term for breaking labor laws.

In a case involving a labor law infringement, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus and three other high-ranking officers of Grameen Telecom were today sentenced to six months in bars.

The decision was announced by Sheikh Merina Sultana, the chairperson of the Dhaka Third Labour Court.

Following the ruling, Yunus and the other three officials submitted individual bail requests, which were approved by the judge for a month.

The other three people jailed are senior officials, Ashraful Hassan, Nurjahan Begum, and Mohammad Shahjahan. Prof. Yunus is the chairman of Grameen Telecom.

At 1:42 p.m., they showed up in the courtroom.

The four were given fines of Tk 30,000 for each, failing which they would have to spend an additional 25 days behind bars.

Abdullah Al-Mamun, Yunus’s attorney, informed reporters following the decision that a review would be filed.

The court scheduled today, December 24, for the decision to be delivered.

It framed charges against them on June 6. It also captured the testimony of four witnesses for the prosecution.

The case was filed with the court on September 9, 2021 by Labour Inspector (General) SM Arifuzzaman of the Inspection for Factories and Establishments Department.

The court documents state that on August 16, 2021, IFED authorities conducted an inspection of Grameen Telecom’s office in Mirpur, the capital, and discovered multiple labor law infractions.

In a letter to Grameen Telecom’s management on August 19 of that year, the department stated that 67 of its workers were expected to become permanent hires. But according to the case statement, it wasn’t finished.

It further stated that five percent of the company’s dividends that were meant to be distributed to the employees were not. Additionally, the employee involvement and welfare funds had not yet been established.