Bangladeshi Nobel laureate challenge government order dismissing him as head of microfinance bank he founded
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has challenged the legality of a Bangladeshi government order dismissing him as the head of the microfinance bank he founded.
Nine members of the Grameen bank's board of directors backed Yunus, an outspoken government critic, by filing a separate petition to the high court, his lawyer, Sara Hossain, said. The court heard arguments today and said it would rule on Sunday.
Bangladesh's central bank ordered Yunus out of the bank on Wednesday, arguing that the 70-year-old had violated a law that makes retirement mandatory at the age of 60. Grameen said it was exempt from the rule and Yunus would remain in his post.
The government owns a 25% stake in the bank, which gives small loans to the poor. The other 75% is owned by Grameen's borrowers.
Yunus told reporters outside the court that he was interested in handing his job to a successor.
'I, too, want to quit, but it has to be done honourably,' he said. 'If I've to leave because of malice, then people will lose faith in Grameen Bank. I don't want that to happen.'
The demand for Yunus's removal as Grameen's managing director is the latest in a string of problems, including an apparently politically motivated defamation trial and accusations of an unauthorised bank transfer 15 years ago.
Yunus has long had frosty relations with the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who has publicly criticised the Grameen Bank, saying its interest rates are too high. Hasina was reportedly angered by Yunus's attempt in 2007 to form his own political party, backed by the country's army.
The move to oust Yunus from Grameen has prompted criticism from foreign donors.
'We are deeply troubled by the process here that is trying to remove Prof Yunus,' US ambassador James F Moriarty told reporters after meeting the finance minister, Abul alMaal, abdul Muhith.
'It is an unusual way to handle a Nobel laureate who is considered outside the country as one of the greatest Bangladeshis,' Moriarty said.
Muhith defended the government's decision.
'We knew very well it would tarnish our image globally,' Muhith told reporters. 'We had to do it in line with the law of the land.'
Muhith said Yunus's removal would not harm Grameen operation.
Yunus founded the bank three decades ago, pioneering the concept of reducing poverty by making tiny loans to the poor. His work, which spurred a boom in such lending across the developing world, earned him and the bank the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Recently, Yunus has been under pressure at home. In addition to his legal troubles, Sheikh Hasina has accused the bank and other microfinance institutions of charging high interest rates and 'sucking blood from the poor borrowers'.
Efforts to remove Yunus from Grameen have intensified in recent weeks.
Controversy surrounded Yunus after a Norwegian television documentary shown in December accused him of transferring Norwegian development funds from Grameen to another venture without prior approval in 1996. Pressure by the Norwegian embassy in Dhaka resulted in the funds being transferred back in 1998, and the Norwegian government has said there was no indication Grameen was engaged in corruption or embezzlement.
The bank, founded in 1983 in Bangladesh, has nearly 9 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women. Many use their small loans to make ends meet or to start small businesses.
In Washington, the head of the US Senate foreign relations committee, Senator John Kerry, expressed his concern about efforts to remove Yunus and said the international community would watch the situation closely. He said he hoped both sides could reach a compromise that maintained the bank's autonomy and effectiveness and that Yunus's 'life-long work to reduce poverty and empower women through microloans has deservedly received worldwide attention and respect'.
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