Arrest warrant sought against Plaintiff, other officials in Prof Yunus’ case

Staff Reporter :
Lawyer of Nobel Laureate Prof Dr Muhmmad Yunus has demanded an arrest warrant against the plaintiff and some other officials of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) bringing an allegation of fraudulence in the case filed on charge of violating labour law.

Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun made the verbal demand to the Third Labour Court in Dhaka on Tuesday while cross-examining the plaintiff in the case. The lawyer claimed that they have found inconsistencies in the documents during the cross-examination of the main prosecution witness.

However, the judge, Sheikh Merina Sultana, did not pass any order on the issue. She adjourned the proceedings of the case till September 13, said Barrister Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, another lawyer for Prof Yunus.

Tariqul Islam, an Inspector of the DIFE and also the first witness of the case, admitted during the cross-examination that the check list which was prepared during the inspection of the Grameen Telecom and provided to the defendants was not identical to the check list submitted in the court.

The lawyer of Prof Yunus claimed that the check-list submitted to the court was later fabricated.

Through this, the plaintiff has resorted to the fraudlance.

Therefore, an arrest warrant should be issued against them.

They also verbally applied to the court for that. However, the court has not given any order so far.

The main plaintiff in this case died earlier.

Now the court’s permission is required if anyone wants to play the role of the plaintiff in the case.

However, Tariqul Islam who is now performing the plaintiff’s role did not take any permission from the court. During the cross-examination he also admitted this.

Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan who represented the DIFE in the case said the DIFE officials provided the copy of the inspection check-list to the defendants on their demand.

The lawyer said, “Grameen Telecom officials prayed a copy of the check-list saying ‘sir give us a paper’.

Thus they took a photocopy.

Now they have submitted it to the court and claimed there has been fraudulence.

They kept the photocopy and now they are using it like a trump card.”

Earlier on the day, the judge of the Third Labour Court, asked the journalists to leave the courtroom.

Then Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun questioned whether it was the camera trial that led to the expulsion of the journalists.

He said journalists stay even in the apex court of the country.

So, why not they will stay here?
Judge Sheikh Merina Sultana said, “We cannot complete the trial with everyone.”

Finally she did not make any objection to the presence of the journalists.

On June 6 this year the same court framed charge against the accused in the case filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments for allegedly violating the labour law.

The other accused in the case are- Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hassan, Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.

Inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, Arifuzzaman, filed the case with Dhaka 3rd Labour Court on 9 September in 2021 against four people including Prof Yunus.