It has been over a month since a Dhaka court on June 12 indicted Nobel Laureate and father of microfinance, Professor Muhammad Yunus, and 13 others.
They were accused of embezzlement of more than $2 million from the dividends of the employees of a telecom company.
Judge Syed Arafat Hossain of Dhaka Special Judge Court 4, on June 12, rejected a plea for the dismissal of charges by the accused and ordered the indictment.
The date for trial was fixed on July 15 for a man feted around the world as “the banker to the poor,” who was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering microcredit to help the poor, especially women.
The bank, Grameen, which he founded in 1983, also received the Nobel. It gave the poor access to loans, which no bank was willing to give, at cheap rates, sustaining millions and inspiring other countries to adapt his model of banking to help their impoverished citizens.
Now Grameen is officially owned by the government.
Yunus was thrown out in 2011 apparently after attaining the retirement age of 60, but it’s speculated that his popularity did not gone down well with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He has been investigated on and off for over 10 years, something he alleges is vendetta by Hasina’s government.
Earlier this year he was convicted to six months in prison on separate charges of violating labour laws, but was granted bail by the Supreme Court’s High Court Division when the sentence was challenged.
In a recent interview to a television channel, he said such charges affect him, his life gets disrupted. Yunus is the caregiver to his wife, a dementia patient who is completely dependent on him.
His trial began this month, even as Yunus, 83, and the 13 others accused have pleaded not guilty and demanded exemption.
Since Grameen diversified over the years, Yunus has been accused with others of embezzling Taka 250 million (more than USD 2 million) from the workers’ welfare fund of Grameen Telecom.
Grameen Telecom owns a 34.2 per cent stake in Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone operator, Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom giant Telenor.
There are a whopping 150 other cases against Yunus, including major corruption charges that could see him jailed for years if found guilty.
He denies the charges.
Hasina has said it’s not a personal battle. She had earlier alleged that he took advantage of the poor and evaded taxes, which Yunus has termed “baseless.”
The interest rates charged by Grameen were the lowest in the country, he claimed.
Her ministers have said the course of law is being followed even as the opposite parties have alleged that the trial is “influenced by the government.”
Yunus in turn has said Hasina finds him a threat after he launched a political party, only to give it up as he says he was not cut out for it.
His popularity worldwide is another reason for her resentment, he claims.
It remains now to be seen what the courts decide, but pressure is building globally for Yunus’ release.
An open letter to Hasina has been sent by 241 global leaders, including over 125 Nobel Laureates and former US President Barack Obama, expressing concern over Yunus’ “continuous judicial harassment and potential jailing.”
What the future holds for the man behind one of the greatest banking stories of all times is not clear.
But as people that know him say, his courage and ability to get on with his work is likely to see him survive the storm.
Inputs from PTI
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