Yunus 'siphoned Tk 7bn aid for poor'

[desioptimist]

Com'on, this is one of the areas where Bangladeshi's where leading the way, and we Indians were following.
Bangladesh has nearly 30 years of experience in microcredit, can help the whole world's poor. There is a lot of hope and expectation from Yunus and Co.

Yunus has a lot of clout in India too. He claimed he can influence policy decision of Govt of India(wrt microcredit).

Hope the news is not true, and grameen comes to India in a big way.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Hasina for extensive inquiry about unauthorized fund transfer by Prof Yunus

Dhaka, Dec 5 (UNB) - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said there must be an extensive investigation to find out if there was any unauthorized fund transfer by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

“Obviously, there should be an extensive investigation,” she said responding to a question during the press conference held at the Prime Minister’s office on her recent tri-nation visit to Russia, Belgium and Japan.

Hasina said it is time to know what has been going on in the name of poverty alleviation and with the fate of the poor people. “You can’t hide the truth for a long time… once the truth will come out on the surface.”

She said the “blood suckers of the poor” cannot escape for all time.

The Prime Minister admitted that she was convinced initially when the Grameenphone came to get a license in the name of empowering women during her previous tenure.

“I was charmed when I came to know that the rural women will get phone and come out from their extreme poverty. But I hardly seen such an example,” she said.

Hasina alleged that the micro-financers nurse poverty to run their brisk business. “This is the misfortune of the people,” she said.

She added: “The micro-financers make the people of this country their guinea pig. They are sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation.”

The Prime Minister observed that the poor hardly ever came out from under the poverty line after taking loan from the micro-financers.

About the Finance Minister’s comment on the unauthorized fund transfer by Prof Yunus, she said the present government never wants to destroy the image of the country. “All the time we want to uphold the image of the country. That’s why the Finance Minister might have remarked that way for the sake of the country’s image.”

Hasina said the fund transfer took place to evade tax and that was very unfortunate.

In this connection, she said what had happened in the Grameen Bank was just a trick. “This was done as a ploy for evading tax, nothing else.”

On a humourous note, she said Bangladesh sometimes make some examples in different fields. “You can think of this also as an example.”

Replying to another question, the Prime Minister said that at present, the government has a 25 percent stake in the Grameen Bank.“But it seems this bank is solely owned by a person. This is not true. The people of the country also have share in this bank.”

She further said that the government should take steps to unearth the facts about the matter.

UNBconnect... - Hasina for extensive inquiry about unauthorized fund transfer by Prof Yunus

 

[Rig Vedic]

Unless it is proved that the money has been going into Yunus' pocket, there is not much to this story.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

The story is not really about the allegations but that the AL believes there is a plot to install Yunus if the government falls.

 

[Skies]

Bangladesh finance minister defends Yunus

http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4660870
Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Dec 4 (PTI) Bangladesh government has came in defence of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as his Grameen Bank trashed allegations of fund diversion breaching agreements with donors and violating country''s financial laws.

"We have a tendency to look for others'' faults.
I see no fault in the transfer of the fund," Finance Minister A M A Muhith told newsmen on the sidelines of a function late yesterday a day after the Grameen Bank called the allegation "a total fabrication and baseless."
He said Grameen Bank already gave a statement saying there was an understanding long time ago between the Bank and the Norwegian government and "there is no fault in it if the (Grameen Bank) claim is true."
Muhith''s comments came despite a wide belief that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina''s ruling Awami League government had some reservations about Yunus, whose experiment of poor men''s banking earned Bangladesh the fame of being the home of micro-credit, or his Grameen Bank.

Yunus and Grameen Bank had jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize with the micro credit guru in 1996.

"The (media) reports gave the impression that these transactions were somehow secretive. There was nothing secretive about. It was a matter of honest disagreement (with the foreign donor)," said the Grameen Bank statement late Friday.

The nearly 2,000-word statement issued three days after the Norwegian TV aired a documentary sparking a wide sensation, said decisions to transfer the amount to another venture were taken by Grameen Bank Board, with "due deliberation, good faith, and with good intentions to benefit the poor."
"There was no wrong doing in the agreement between Grameen Bank and Grameen Kalyan (to transfer the amount)," said the statement signed by the Bank�s general manager Mohammad Shahjahan.

It added that the actions taken by the Board were viewed as the best use of the funds at the time, a way to ensure Grameen Bank would remain financially accountable for the money while still ensuring that the borrowers received the most possible benefit from donors'' grants.

The private BDNews24 news agency of Bangladesh carried a report quoting the Norwegian TV on December 1 alleging that Yunus drew off nearly USD 100 million in aid for poor borrowers of Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan, a non-profit sister venture of Grameen Bank in 1996 violating agreements with the donor and financial laws of Bangladesh. .

 

[Skies]

Dhaka, Dec 4 (PTI)

"We have a tendency to look for others'' faults.
I see no fault in the transfer of the fund," Finance Minister A M A Muhith told newsmen on the sidelines of a function late yesterday a day after the Grameen Bank called the allegation "a total fabrication and baseless."

Deceive the poor, you will be exposed: PM

Dhaka, Dec 5 (bdnews24.com) — Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said one has to answer at some point, if one goes on sucking the blood of the poor.

"Bangladesh has set many examples. Deceiving people by siphoning their money is another such example. This is nothing but sucking out money from the people after giving them loans. No improvement of the poor has taken place. They were just used as pawns to get more aids," the prime minister commented while speaking at an opinion exchange meeting with reporters at her official residence Ganabhaban on Sunday.

"The people of Bangladesh have been used as guinea pigs. I have never supported that. And now I protest.

Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif on Dec termed Muhammad Yunus as 'corrupt' and said Yunus had no right to ruin Bangladesh's abroad. While the Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam expressed his worries over the issue.

On the same day at another function, Finance minister A M A Muhith said he sees no 'fault' in the diversion of Tk 7 billion aid from Grameen Bank to another company if the bank's claim of 'understanding' in this regard with the Norwegian government was true.

Why Muhith is speaking differently than Hanif and Hasina?

 

[integra]

Because muhith is an educated guy while Hasina's a shrewed politician. They are not supposed to mix well.

 

[Al-zakir]

I have always known that Professor Yonus is Awami's man so why there is so much bad blood between Awami and Yonus now??

Can some one clarify this for me?

 

[Skies]

And I have no problem with Yunus. Micro-credit program is okay but charging high interest is a drawback. But I heard from my friends that in his village poors can't afford the interest rate and there are complains of taking off their cattle forcefully.

May be Yunus did not break any rule of the agreement with donors but he charged extra 2% (even that was not required by govt and donors) from the poors which is immoral and burden to the poors, may be.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

I have always known that Professor Yonus is Awami's man so why there is so much bad blood between Awami and Yonus now??

Can some one clarify this for me?

Prof. Yunus is basically an opportunist and businessman. When he won the Nobel Prize Hasina became jealous and also felt threatened by him. There is speculation that there is an international conspiracy to bring this government down. If this government falls then it is predicted that Yunus will be installed as head of a national government. The AL eliminated the threat posed by Yunus by bringing these allegations.

 

[fallstuff]

Hasina for extensive inquiry about unauthorized fund transfer by Prof Yunus

Dhaka, Dec 5 (UNB) - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said there must be an extensive investigation to find out if there was any unauthorized fund transfer by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

“Obviously, there should be an extensive investigation,” she said responding to a question during the press conference held at the Prime Minister’s office on her recent tri-nation visit to Russia, Belgium and Japan.

Hasina said it is time to know what has been going on in the name of poverty alleviation and with the fate of the poor people. “You can’t hide the truth for a long time… once the truth will come out on the surface.”

She said the “blood suckers of the poor” cannot escape for all time.

The Prime Minister admitted that she was convinced initially when the Grameenphone came to get a license in the name of empowering women during her previous tenure.

“I was charmed when I came to know that the rural women will get phone and come out from their extreme poverty. But I hardly seen such an example,” she said.

Hasina alleged that the micro-financers nurse poverty to run their brisk business. “This is the misfortune of the people,” she said.

She added: “The micro-financers make the people of this country their guinea pig. They are sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation.”

The Prime Minister observed that the poor hardly ever came out from under the poverty line after taking loan from the micro-financers.

About the Finance Minister’s comment on the unauthorized fund transfer by Prof Yunus, she said the present government never wants to destroy the image of the country. “All the time we want to uphold the image of the country. That’s why the Finance Minister might have remarked that way for the sake of the country’s image.”

Hasina said the fund transfer took place to evade tax and that was very unfortunate.

In this connection, she said what had happened in the Grameen Bank was just a trick. “This was done as a ploy for evading tax, nothing else.”

On a humourous note, she said Bangladesh sometimes make some examples in different fields. “You can think of this also as an example.”

Replying to another question, the Prime Minister said that at present, the government has a 25 percent stake in the Grameen Bank.“But it seems this bank is solely owned by a person. This is not true. The people of the country also have share in this bank.”

She further said that the government should take steps to unearth the facts about the matter.

UNBconnect... - Hasina for extensive inquiry about unauthorized fund transfer by Prof Yunus

She sees him as a possible competition. I wonder if her brain is capable of holding an economic thought. I would like to see Yunus as PM someday.

 

[saleen_s7]

I have always known that Professor Yonus is Awami's man so why there is so much bad blood between Awami and Yonus now??

Can some one clarify this for me?

Younis is not an AL man. I can assure you this. He might have friends in AL, but he has more friends in BNP. He doesn't really support any of the political parties personally.

 

[leonblack08]

"We have a tendency to look for others'' faults.
I see no fault in the transfer of the fund," Finance Minister A M A Muhith told newsmen

So very true!!

The important point is, even when the "allegations" are not proved, how come the "prime minister" of a country speak the way she did today???

She is totally paranoid that there can be other Eminent Bangladeshis other than her father...the GREAT "Bangabandhu" . May be we will soon see Grameen Bank shut down and "Bangabandhu Bank" becoming operational .

The pathetic way she criticised Yunus on the basis of "ALLEGATIONS" (NOT YET PROVED),honestly her words sounded to me as that of a vulgar slum dweller. She was more concerned with ditching Yunus to solidify her position rather than defending the country's image.

Never mind the image of the country....bloody f***** politicians

 

[leonblack08]

Although I agree Yunus is not a saint...however,I can feel a big conspiracy framed here against him.could be the Telenor issue or something else.

 

[fallstuff]

Excerpts from the Grameen site:

14.0 Low Interest Rates

Government of Bangladesh has fixed interest rate for government-run microcredit programmes at 11 per cent at flat rate. It amounts to about 22 per cent at declining basis. Grameen Bank's interest rate is lower than government rate.


There are four interest rates for loans from Grameen Bank : 20% for income generating loans, 8% for housing loans, 5% for student loans, and 0% (interest-free) loans for Struggling Members (beggars). All interests are simple interest, calculated on declining balance method. This means, if a borrower takes an income-generating loan of say, Tk 1,000, and pays back the entire amount within a year in weekly instalments, she'll pay a total amount of Tk 1,100, i.e. Tk 1,000 as principal, plus Tk 100 as interest for the year, equivalent to 10% flat rate.


15.0 Deposit Rates

Grameen Bank offers very attractive rates for deposits. Minimum interest offered is 8.5 per cent. Maximum rate is 12 per cent.




16.0 Beggars As Members

Begging is the last resort for survival for a poor person, unless he/she turns into crime or other forms of illegal activities. Among the beggars there are disabled, blind, and retarded people, as well as old people with ill health. Grameen Bank has taken up a special programme in 2002, called Struggling Members Programme exclusively for the beggars. Over 112,232 beggars have joined the programme. Total amount disbursed stands today at Tk. 153.60 million. Of this amount of Tk. 120.16 million (78% of the amount disbursed) has already been paid off.

19,425 beggars have left begging and are making a living as door-to-door sales persons. Among them 9,547 beggars have joined Grameen Bank groups as main-stream borrowers.

Beggers members have voluntarily opened their personal savings accounts. Cumulative dposit in these savings accounts amounts to BDT 20.20 million; present balance stands at BDT 7.92 million.
Basic features of the programme are :

1) Existing rules of Grameen Bank do not apply to beggar members; they make up their own rules.

2) All loans are interest-free. Loans can be for very long term, to make repayment instalments very small. For example, for a loan to buy a quilt or a mosquito-net, or an umbrella, many borrowers are paying Tk 2.00 (3.4 cents US) per week.

3) Beggar members are covered under life insurance and loan insurance programmes without paying any cost.

4) Groups and centres are encouraged to become patrons of the beggar members.

5) Each member receives an identity badge with Grameen Bank logo. She can display this as she goes about her daily life, to let everybody know that she is a Grameen Bank member and this national institution stands behind her.

6) Members are not required to give up begging, but are encouraged to take up an additional income-generating activity like selling popular consumer items door to door, or at the place of begging.
Objective of the programme is to provide financial services to the beggars to help them find a dignified livelihood, send their children to school and graduate into becoming regular Grameen Bank members. We wish to make sure that no one in the Grameen Bank villages has to beg for survival.



17.0 Housing For the Poor


Grameen Bank introduced housing loan in 1984. It became a very attractive programme for the borrowers. This programme was awarded Aga Khan International Award for Architecture in 1989. Maximum amount given for housing loan is Tk 15,000 (US $ 218) to be repaid over a period of 5 years in weekly instalments. Interest rate is 8 per cent. 686,255 houses have been constructed with the housing loans averaging Tk 13,065 (US $ 187.52). A total amount of Tk 8.97 billion (US $ 210.58 million) has been disbursed for housing loans. During the past 12 months (from November.'09 to October’10) 9,062 houses have been built with housing loans amounting to Tk 103.32 million (US $1.48 million).

Grameen Bank | Banking for the poor - GB At a Glance