Bangladesh Nobel Laureate’s company accused of money laundering, bribery

A company owned by Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been accused of money laundering, bribery and conspiracy against the country.

The development came to light after authorities have come into possession of documents that revealed the misdeeds.

According to the documents, Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance, embezzled thousands of crores of taka from Grameen Bank, Grameen Telecom (GTC) and other associated organisations.

Former President of the Bangladesh National Press Club, Shafiq Rahman told IANS that Yunus’s employees have demanded to rescind his Nobel Peace Prize.

“He bribed judicial officials and administrative high-ups to stay safe from the cases filed against him and operators. Besides, he allegedly persecuted employees of his companies, violating labour rights,” Rahman added.

In 1997, Yunus received licence of GTC from the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

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After that, he handed over a majority portion of shares of Grameen Phone Limited to a foreign company.

At present, GTC owns 34.20 per cent shares in Grameen Phone Limited, against which it receives thousands of crores of dividend every year. Most of this dividend income from GTC is illegally laundered by ‘social business’ of Yunus.

According to lawyers, legal actions can be taken against Yunus and GTC.

Yunus committed offences under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 and GTC has been transferring its dividends in violation of section 28 & 29 of the Companies Act, 1994