Muhammad Yunus a national asset but he has committed criminal offence: Foreign minister

Incumbent Foreign Minister and governing Awami League’s candidate from Sylhet-1 constituency in the forthcoming parliamentary elections AK Abdul Momen has said Dr Muhammad Yunus is a national asset of Bangladesh but he has committed a criminal offence.

“Muhammad Yunus is our national asset. He is a Nobel Laureate. We respect him a lot. But there are many Nobel Laureates, who have committed wrongful activities, committed criminal offences, and they have been punished. Our Nobel Laureate has also committed a criminal offence,” said the foreign minister while talking to the media at his electoral campaign headquarters in Dhopadighirpar area in Sylhet on Tuesday night.

“What we know is he did not pay money to the labourers. He has deprived them. That is why he has been sentenced. This is a matter of the court… This is a huge process of the law. He has got a scope of legal fight and presenting his arguments. The judgement was made on the basis of evidence. Because each country respects the law. That is why I don’t think there will be any problem,” he added.

The foreign minister also spoke about a BBC report on Bangladesh’s parliamentary election. “BBC runs different sorts of reports every now and then. Once they said nearly 30-50 million people in Bangladesh will die because of Covid. But so many people have not died. They just say this. Media sometimes reports in an attractive way so that (people) are drawn to it. And, many things are being discussed about the election in Bangladesh. They published something flashy. I don’t think the government makes decisions based on some reports.”

“Hundreds of newspapers are published in various countries. Governments in all countries analyse and fix the interests of their countries, think of the future crises, and their ideas in a global context. We have good relations with all the countries; we don’t have any enmity with any country. That is why we are not worried about these reports,” expressed the foreign minister.

Abdul Momen further said, “What we want to establish is, a free, fair, good and acceptable election has been organised in the country. If we could do that, that would be our success; if the people of our country accept this, that would be our success. Whatever other people say … what the people of this country think is most important.”