Yunus functions as Grameen Bank MD ignoring law: AG

Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam Tuesday accused Prof Muhammad Yunus of functioning as managing director (MD) of Grameen Bank ignoring the law, reports UNB. "Has he got any respect for law?" the AG questioned while making his submission before the Appellate Division against the petition filed by Prof Yunus for recalling its order. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) earlier dismissed Yunus' application for leave to appeal against the High Court (HC) judgment on his removal from Grameen Bank, the micro-finance institution he established back in 1983. Opposing the petition, AG Mahbubey Alam said the recall-petition after the highest judiciary pronounced its orders in the open court cannot be tenable, as the pronouncement of the order is the operative part of the judgment. The aggrieved person can seek review only against the final judgment, he said. During the hearing, the chief government law officer further told the court that the counsel for the petitioner had failed to make any new point except making repetitions. Senior advocate Tawfique Nawaz, counsel for the general manager of Bangladesh Bank (BB), also opposed Yunus' recall-petition saying there is no such provision under the Constitution. He said Prof Yunus has been functioning illegally as Grameen Bank managing director since 1999 without taking prior approval of BB, the regulatory body, and despite exceeding the retirement age limit of 60 years. Inaction does not mean that a particular law has lost its effectiveness; law remains in force, Nawaz said, adding that the authority responsible for non-application of the law should be censured. Dr Kamal Hossain, counsel for Prof Yunus, made it clear before the court Tuesday that the Grameen Bank board of directors is the appointing and removing authority of its MD as per the Bank's regulations. Bangladesh Bank has no authority to interfere in the jurisdiction of the Grameen Bank board of directors, but the central bank had removed his client by exercising its power going beyond the law, he contended. After closing the hearing on Prof Yunus' petition, Barrister Sara Hossain, the counsel for the nine directors of Grameen Bank, began her submission on a similar plea for recalling the April 5 apex court order that had dismissed an application for leave to appeal against the High Court judgment. On March 8, after a three-day admissibility hearing, an HC division bench summarily dismissed two identical writ petitions, validating the Bangladesh Bank order that had removed Prof Yunus as Grameen Bank managing director. The 7-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, adjourned the hearing for today (Wednesday).