Bangladesh accuses Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus of embezzlement

Dhaka, May 30 The Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission charged Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and 12 others on Tuesday for allegedly misappropriating $2.35 million from a workers’ fund.

The Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) launched the investigation against Yunus, president of Grameen Telecom company, in 2022, after receiving a complaint from the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments for embezzlement and money laundering.

“We found the accusation against Grameen Telecom Chairman Muhammad Yunus and other members to be mostly true,” ACC CEO Rezanur Rahman told a news conference.

EFE tried to contact the representatives of the prominent economist; however, neither Yunus nor any of his spokespersons were available for comment.

This is the latest legal move against Yunus by the Bangladeshi authorities since he was ousted from his post as managing director of microcredit firm Grameen Bank in 2011.

The prominent economist, recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, was removed from the bank at the request of the Government, an order that Yunus appealed without success.

Bangladeshi authorities have focused attention on Yunus since a documentary was aired in 2010 exposing alleged illegal fund transfers between two Grameen Group entities.

In addition, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, blames Yunus for allegedly influencing the World Bank so that this entity canceled the funds for the construction of a mega-bridge project.

In an open letter in March, 40 world leaders, including Hillary Clinton, expressed concern for Yunus’ well-being, saying the Bangladeshi government was “unfairly targeting and repeatedly harassing and investigating” him.

Yunus, known as ‘the banker of the poor’, was recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize for having founded the Grameen Bank to combat hunger and poverty in Bangladesh, through the development of the concept of microcredit, through which loans are granted to low-income people who want to carry out some type of enterprise.

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