'Happy that I was not put in a cage'

A Dhaka tribunal today extended bail of Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and three directors of Grameen Telecom till August 14 in a labour law violation case.

MA Awal, chairman (in-charge) of Labour Appellate Tribunal, passed the order, Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, a lawyer for Yunus, told The Daily Star.

Around 11:00am, Yunus, chairman of Grameen Telecom, along with his three colleagues appeared before the tribunal and filed a petition, the lawyer said.

Talking to journalists afterwards, Yunus said, "The complaints against me are that I laundered money, set up many companies abroad, evaded taxes etc. These are matters for investigation, not for debate. It is a judicial matter... I think I have nothing to say about it."

"The things she [PM] raises as complaints, we have answered those many times... we made a list of 29 Grameen Bank questions and answers and printed them in the form of advertisements in newspapers. If you read it, you will get the answers there. It is not necessary to search for new answers now," he said.

"I have never been prosecuted by the government or the NBR regarding my taxes. So I do not understand where did the issue of tax evasion come from. So, these are the subject of investigation," he continued.

He also said, "I am feeling good as I was not inside the cage today. There is no cage system here. The cage system should be removed permanently from courts."

Meanwhile, the tribunal set August 14 for hearing the appeal filed by Yunus and three Grameen Telecom directors against a labour court's sentence in the case.

On January 1, the Labour Court-3 of Dhaka sentenced the four to six months' imprisonment and fined Tk 30,000 each for violating labour laws.