Grameen Telecom Workers Union president, gen secy held over fraud, embezzlement
The accused allegedly breached the trust of Grameen Telecom workers who recently withdrew all the cases filed against the telco company
Police have arrested the president and general secretary of the workers' union of Grameen Telecom – a company owned by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus – over allegations of fraud and embezzlement.
The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested MD Kamruzzaman, president of the union and Md Firoz Mahmud Hasan, its general secretary, on Tuesday, DB Gulshan AD SM Rezaul Haque Reza told The Business Standard on Wednesday.
They were arrested in a case filed with the Mirpur Model police station by the union's Finance Secretary Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman.
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Akhtaruzzaman alleged that the two accused along with some collective bargaining agents, and lawyers representing Grameen Telecom breached the trust of workers who recently withdrew all the cases filed against the telco company following assurance of payment of arrears and salaries.
They even spread rumours that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will not remain in power for long and the cases filed by the workers will become "invalid" after her exit from the government, Akhtaruzzaman added.
After getting dismissed from Grameen Telecom, 176 workers appealed to the High Court for the company's liquidation as it was not paying their dues amounting to Tk437 crore.
Later, Grameen Telecom authorities negotiated with the workers through lawyers. Following this, the workers applied for the withdrawal of the liquidation case on 23 May this year showing conciliation as the cause.
On the day of the hearing on 30 June, the court asked the workers to submit the conciliation contract paper and payment documents.
