In Bangladesh a group of unidentified people on Monday took control of and locked the offices of two entities of Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in Mirpur, Dhaka.

A senior official said that around 20 people entered Grameen Telecom and Grameen Kalyan offices housed at Grameen Bhaban in Mirpur around 5:00pm and took hostage of the officials there for about two hours allegedly to take control of the offices.

Professor Yunus held a meeting on Monday with the managing directors and advisers of his institutions at the Grameen Bhaban.

After the meeting, Professor Yunus left the office around 4:30pm when a group of people entered the offices and surrounded the officials, said Grameen Telecom Legal adviser Abdullah Al Mamun.

Meanwhile, the High Court ordered Grameen Telecom to deposit Tk 50 crore before filing income tax appeals for 2011–12 and 2012–13 tax years, United News of Bangladesh reported.

The High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir passed the order on Monday, rejecting a petition filed by Grameen Telecom against the order to deposit 25 per cent of the money.

As a result, Grameen Telecom will have to deposit Tk 50 crore and then appeal, lawyers said. Lawyer Mostafizur Rahman appeared for Grameen Telecom, while assistant attorney general lawyer Tahmina Akhter represented the state.

‘In November 2020, the National Board of Revenue sent a notice to the Grameen Telecom demanding Tk 250 crore in income tax for the two years. Later on, Grameen Telecom asked for a waiver as there was no money,’ said lawyer Tahmina.

After the application was rejected by the revenue board, they sought a waiver of income tax. But then they had about Tk 400 crore in one account, she said.

The National Board of Revenue issued a notice asking for the income tax, mentioning that there was money in the account.

Later on, Grameen Telecom filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the revenue board notice. The court also issued a rule on why the notice should not be declared illegal.

After visiting different courts in the last three years, the case came to the bench concerned of the High Court, according to a UNB report.

After hearing the petition on Monday, the court dismissed the writ petition of Grameen Telecom.

At the same time, the court ordered Grameen Telecom to deposit 25 per cent of the income tax demanded as per the rules and then file an appeal against the National Board of Revenue.