BD turns up heat on Yunus

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FE Team | Published: March 01, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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Bangladesh moved to force Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus out of his pioneering microfinance bank Monday, with the central bank saying he had passed retirement age and had to go, reports AFP. Supporters of the 70-year-old Yunus, including former Irish president Mary Robinson, said there is a campaign of politically orchestrated attacks on the Nobel Laureate after he fell out with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2007. Bangladesh Bank sent a letter to the finance ministry, saying that Dr Yunus, who won the Nobel Prize in 2006, should be removed from the Grameen Bank he founded. "In the letter, the central bank has said Muhammad Yunus has been staying as the chief executive of the Grameen Bank for an indefinite period, which is illegal," said Grameen chairman Muzammel Huq. "In the letter, a copy of which has been given to me, the central bank said he no longer can stay as the chief executive of the Grameen Bank because the retirement age of the bank is 60." Hence, his being the bank chief executive is "illegal and not valid," Huq said, reading out the letter to AFP. A Bangladesh Bank official said the finance ministry can now remove Yunus because the government holds a 25 per cent stake in the micro-lender. "We told the finance ministry that his overstaying as the chief executive clearly flouted section 14(1) of the Grameen Bank laws," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The move comes as Yunus faces intense pressure from the government to quit his post. In early February, Finance Minister A M A Muhith asked the Nobel winner to go.