On Monday, February 12, 2024, at 4:26pm Dhaka time, approximately 11 people who had arrived in a jeep and a private car entered the reception hall of the Gramee Telecom Building, followed by approximately 24 more people a short time later.
In order to enter the building, as per the building’s rules, visitors have to check in at the front desk of the reception. Accordingly, the officer on duty there requested that the visitors check in.
One of them identified himself as Colonel Rashid, and he said that he was from Grameen Bank and would go to the offices of Grameen Kalyan (Welfare) and Grameen Telecom, two of the largest and most impressive nonprofit organizations established by Professor Yunus. The building staff were asked to contact those organizations from the front desk. Then, the group proceeded to evade the security access control system located in the lobby, and at 4:34pm they took the stairs to Grameen Telecom and then to Grameen Kalyan.
The invaders refused to show any proper identity cards, and forcibly entered the offices without any proper order issued by any authority that allowed them to enter the building or those offices. Later, they started looking at the ID cards of the officers and employees of Grameen Telecom and Grameen Kalyan, and they prevented the employees from leaving the office, even after the scheduled office hours, in what amounted to illegal confinement and imprisonment. The employees were undestandably terrified.
Later, the invaders had separate meetings with the Managing Directors of Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Telecom. Their leader informed the Managing Directors of Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Telecom that the management of the institutions has changed, and that a new chairman and a new managing director had been appointed for both organizations. Professor Yunus has been serving as the non-executive chairman of both organizations, for which he receives no compensation.
After the meeting with Grameen Telecom ended at 7:15pm, all but two of the invaders left. Finally, they ordered everyone to leave and secured the offices with their own locks, promising to return at 10am the next morning.
Something terrible is occurring in Bangladesh, as the rule of law devolves into the rule of the jungle. If this hostile takeover of two of the flagship Grameen companies is not reversed tomorrow, it sends an ominous message to existing and potential investors—both foreign and domestic—in Bangladesh.
We hope that the local and international media covers this evolving story with all of the seriousness it deserves. The valuable work of these two nonprofit organizations is at dire risk, and their employees’ lives have been turned upside down in one of the most terrifying ways imaginable.