Yunus Centre responds to allegations over Padma Bridge, other issues

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus has responded to various allegations brought against him.

Yunus Centre issued a rejoinder to the allegations brought about by the prime minister against Professor Yunus on Wednesday.

Regarding the filing a case instead of resigning from the position of Grameen Bank’s managing director even after 60, Yunus Centre said when Professor Yunus was asked to resign in 2011 he filed a writ petition at the High Court to protect the basic legal status of Grameen Bank and that has no relation to the retention of his job.

Regarding telephone calls by eminent personalities including Hillary Clinton, the centre said removal of Dr Yunus made global headlines and those eminent persons were not stressing on the return of professor Yunus, but they wanted the progress of Grameen Bank’s programmes be continued. A completely different story has been made up by mixing it with the financing of Padma Bridge.

Besides, Padma Bridge is a long-standing dream of all people of Bangladesh, including Professor Yunus. He believed in this dream and he hailed the prime minister for this historic achievement.

About allegations of creating pressure through Hillary Clinton to block Padma Bridge funds and holding a meeting along with a newspaper editor at the World Bank office, Yunus Centre said international decisions do not depend on the whims of two friends or the visit of an editor. So holding such meeting is just a figment of imagination.

On the allegations of Muhammad Yunus paying a foundation $6 million dollars and receiving a Tk 60 million (6 crore) cheque in his personal account, the centre said this was totally fabricated and defamatory. Besides, the government collected all information on Professor Yunus’ transactions beforehand and the government has all the information.

The rejoinder further stated Professor Yunus received no money as the MD of Grameen Bank other than his salary. He also pays tax and files tax returns regularly. Handsome remuneration for lectures, royalty of books published in 25 languages and money coming from his fixed deposit are the sources of Professor Yunus’ income.

All income was received through banking channels. Many organisations use the name ‘Yunus’ or ‘Grameen’ and entrepreneurs do it out of their belief in the philosophy of Muhammad Yunus, but this has no relation to ownership. Professor Yunus never donated anything to Clinton Foundation and didn't owned shares of Grameen Bank.