CaPtAiN_pLaNeT
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- May 10, 2010
- Messages
- 7,685
- Reaction score
- 0
Bangladesh orders fresh probe into Muhammad Yunus' activities
Bangladesh orders fresh probe into Muhammad Yunus' activities - Indian Express
Agencies : Dhaka, Thu Aug 02 2012, 18:35 hrs
Bangladesh today ordered a fresh probe into the activities and financial transactions of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of pioneering micro lending agency 'Grameen Bank', and took steps to curtail his powers.
"The cabinet had a threadbare discussion on different issues of the Grameen Bank and asked the concerned departments to submit reports on a number of issues," cabinet secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told newsmen after emerging from a cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said the cabinet demanded explanation from concerned government offices about the legality of Yunus's continuation in office as its Grameen's managing director after 61 years of age and amount he drew from the bank as salary and allowances following his retention to the post of Managing Director after 60 years of his age.
"The government decided to examine if it was lawful for Dr Muhammad Yunus to continue holding the office of Managing Director of Grameen Bank beyond the mandated age of 60," Bhuiyan said.
The cabinet, he said, also asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to give report to the cabinet about the total foreign exchange Yunus brought in the country as a wage earner and how much tax he paid and how much tax exemption he was given on account of being a 'wage earner'.
The cabinet also asked the NBR to inform it if Yunus was eligible for the category of wage earner, the cabinet secretary added.
The cabinet approved the proposal for amending the Grameen Bank Ordinance 1983 to reduce the power of the bank's board and give more authority to its chairman to pick the managing director of the microcredit organisation, changing the specialised bank's structure.
The development came as his protracted row with Hasina government intensified recently as the World Bank scrapped a multibillion credit agreement with Bangladesh fearing a "graft plot". Several government leaders alleged he had a role in the cancellation of the deal.
Yunus issued a statement expressing deep shock at the government's attempt to reduce the power of Grameen Bank's board and give more authority to its chairman to pick the managing director of the microcredit organisation.
"Now my apprehension has started to become a reality. I am so disheartened that I am unable to express my feeling," he said referring to his earlier expressed fears about the fate of the Grameen Bank which he founded 30 years ago.
Bangladesh's central bank fired Yunus in March last year saying he had exceeded the mandatory retirement age of 60 while he resigned months later after losing a legal battle at the apex court.
Analysts, however, said the central bank decision was the outcome of the government reservation against him as Yunus's troubles stem from 2007 when he announced formation of a political party, an infinitive which was visibly unwelcome by major parties.
But Yunus, rallied huge foreign support in the dispute while the United States has reaffirmed its support for Nobel Prize winner Grameen Bank with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging Hasina to keep integrated the pioneering micro lending agency's structure despite a review process.
Yunus's experiment of poor men's banking earned Bangladesh the repute of being the home micro credit while the government earlier ditched possibilities of his appointment as the nearly ceremonial chairman of Grameen Bank as Hasina harshly criticised the high interest rate charged by Grameen Bank calling it a "blood sucker" of the poor.
Bangladesh orders fresh probe into Muhammad Yunus' activities - Indian Express
Agencies : Dhaka, Thu Aug 02 2012, 18:35 hrs
Bangladesh today ordered a fresh probe into the activities and financial transactions of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of pioneering micro lending agency 'Grameen Bank', and took steps to curtail his powers.
"The cabinet had a threadbare discussion on different issues of the Grameen Bank and asked the concerned departments to submit reports on a number of issues," cabinet secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told newsmen after emerging from a cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said the cabinet demanded explanation from concerned government offices about the legality of Yunus's continuation in office as its Grameen's managing director after 61 years of age and amount he drew from the bank as salary and allowances following his retention to the post of Managing Director after 60 years of his age.
"The government decided to examine if it was lawful for Dr Muhammad Yunus to continue holding the office of Managing Director of Grameen Bank beyond the mandated age of 60," Bhuiyan said.
The cabinet, he said, also asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to give report to the cabinet about the total foreign exchange Yunus brought in the country as a wage earner and how much tax he paid and how much tax exemption he was given on account of being a 'wage earner'.
The cabinet also asked the NBR to inform it if Yunus was eligible for the category of wage earner, the cabinet secretary added.
The cabinet approved the proposal for amending the Grameen Bank Ordinance 1983 to reduce the power of the bank's board and give more authority to its chairman to pick the managing director of the microcredit organisation, changing the specialised bank's structure.
The development came as his protracted row with Hasina government intensified recently as the World Bank scrapped a multibillion credit agreement with Bangladesh fearing a "graft plot". Several government leaders alleged he had a role in the cancellation of the deal.
Yunus issued a statement expressing deep shock at the government's attempt to reduce the power of Grameen Bank's board and give more authority to its chairman to pick the managing director of the microcredit organisation.
"Now my apprehension has started to become a reality. I am so disheartened that I am unable to express my feeling," he said referring to his earlier expressed fears about the fate of the Grameen Bank which he founded 30 years ago.
Bangladesh's central bank fired Yunus in March last year saying he had exceeded the mandatory retirement age of 60 while he resigned months later after losing a legal battle at the apex court.
Analysts, however, said the central bank decision was the outcome of the government reservation against him as Yunus's troubles stem from 2007 when he announced formation of a political party, an infinitive which was visibly unwelcome by major parties.
But Yunus, rallied huge foreign support in the dispute while the United States has reaffirmed its support for Nobel Prize winner Grameen Bank with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging Hasina to keep integrated the pioneering micro lending agency's structure despite a review process.
Yunus's experiment of poor men's banking earned Bangladesh the repute of being the home micro credit while the government earlier ditched possibilities of his appointment as the nearly ceremonial chairman of Grameen Bank as Hasina harshly criticised the high interest rate charged by Grameen Bank calling it a "blood sucker" of the poor.
