ACC summons Professor Yunus, seven others in graft case

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Online desk: The Anti-Corruption Commission has summoned eight people, including Grameen Telecom chairman and Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus to appear on October 5 in a case filed against them on charges of embezzling Tk 25.22 crore from the company’s Workers Profit Participation Fund.

ACC deputy director Gulshan Anwar Pradhan, also investigation officer in the case, sent the letter on September 27 to Yunus and others, said an official of the commission.

The commission in the letter asked Yunus to appear at the commission’s Segunbagicha headquarters in the capital on October 5 at 12:30pm to give his statement in connection with the investigation in the case.

ACC also asked Grameen Telecom’s managing director Md Nazmul Islam and former managing director Md Ashraful Hasan to appear at the commission to give statements on the same day, said Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, one of the lawyers of Yunus.

Apart from this, the commission also asked Grameen Telecom’s directors Parvin Mahmud, Naznin Sultana, Md Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and SM Hazzatul Islam Latifi to appear at the commission on Wednesday to give statements in the case.

On May 30, this year, the ACC filed the case under the money laundering act against Professor Yunus and 12 others for their alleged involvement in embezzlement of the money.

The other accused in the case are — lawyers Md Yusuf Ali and Zafrul Hasan Sharif, Grameen Telecom Sramik-Karmachari Union president Md Quamruzzaman, general secretary Firoz Mahmud, and representative Md Mainul Islam.

On July 23, 2022, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments sent a formal letter to ACC to investigate the allegations of embezzlement of workers’ money against Yunus.

ACC officials said that the case was filed after a preliminary investigation against the accused found the allegations of embezzlement and money laundering were true.