No violation of law, says Yunus Centre

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FE Report The Yunus Centre (YC) gave Monday its instant reaction to the decision of the cabinet regarding taking legal action against Dr Muhammad Yunus over tax exemption, as published in different online media. In a statement, the YC said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) never mentioned that Noble Laureate Professor Yunus had evaded tax. Rather, the NBR said Professor Yunus sought tax exemption and the NBR gave the exemption as per the law, it said, adding that there was no violation of law. In its statement, the NBR raised a question that Professor Yunus was a public servant as per Supreme Court verdict and as a public servant he had to take permission from the government before receiving any overseas income and awards. But, he (Dr. Yunus) did not do the same, it said referring to the NBR statement. The YC said since Prof Yunus, according to the SC verdict, remained in Grameen Bank (GB) as managing director unlawfully for 11 years since 2000, so there was no question of taking permission from the government in terms of receiving any income from overseas. The statement said the law, which is applicable for a common citizen, should be considered for Dr. Yunus too. "So, there is no basis regarding the allegation raised by the NBR," it said. It said Dr Yunus did everything after taking approval and permission from the Supreme authority - board of directors of the GB. "He (Prof Yunus) did nothing violating the law," the statement said. It said the areas from where Prof Yunus earns are lecture, royalties of his books and prizes which he can show as tax free income as per existing law if he brought the amount through banking channel. It said Dr Yunus brought his overseas income through banking channel following the rules and he showed the income to the NBR at the time of submission of income tax return. He paid the tax accordingly. He has duly shown all of his income-both local and foreign income -- in the income tax return. None raised question about assessed tax by the authorities concerned. Also, no notice was served in this regard, it said. It was the responsibility of the tax authorities to point out which is taxable income, which is not, the YC statement added.