Trial of Muhammad Yunus

The trial of Muhammad Yunus is a The Times of India news article, depicting the series of trials launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh against Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize–winning economist known for his two theories, microcredit and social business, and for his work through Grameen Bank that has helped millions of poor women break the cycle of poverty. It tells the story of how the former put the latter on trial in 2010 and ultimately removed him from Grameen Bank, citing that he was too old to run the Bank which he founded in 1983. It also states that, in 2013, she put him on trial for a second time because he had supposedly received his earnings without the necessary permission from her government, including his Nobel Peace Prize earnings and the royalties from his book sales. The article claims that this series of trials against Yunus has puzzled billions of people around the world, from the 8.3 million underprivileged women of Grameen Bank to U.S. President Barack Obama. Likening Hasina's political vendetta against Yunus to a modern-day replay of the conflict between Archimedes and General Marcellus, the article predicts that the “banker to the poor” may face a fate similar to the father of mathematics for asking Hasina not to disturb the Grameen Bank.Vikas Bajaj wrote in New York Times on November 7, 2013:

The government of Bangladesh has played its trump card in its long-running campaign against Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus. Last week, legislators passed a law that effectively nationalizes the bank, which pioneered the idea of making small loans to poor women, by wresting control of it from the 8.4 million rural women that own a majority of its shares

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, 2006

Background

For many years, Yunus remained a follower of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujib, the founding father of Bangladesh. While teaching at Middle Tennessee State University, Yunus founded the Bangladesh Citizen’s Committee (BCC), as a response to West Pakistan’s aggression against Bangladesh and its leader Sheikh Mujib. After the outbreak of the war of liberation, the BCC selected Yunus to become editor of its newly published Bangladesh News Letter. Inspired by the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, Yunus returned home in 1972, to help Mujib rebuild the nation shattered by a long and bloody war. The relationship did not end after Mujib’s death. Yunus maintained a professional relationship with Mujib’s daughter, Hasina. Yunus appointed Hasina—along with US first lady Hillary Clinton—as co-chair of a microcredit summit held February 2–4, 1997. At this event, 50 heads of state and high-level officials from 137 nation-states gathered in Washington, DC, to discuss solutions to poverty. At this macroevent for microcredit, Hasina had nothing but praise for her fatherly figure. In her statement she praised,“the outstanding work done by Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded.. . . The success of the Grameen Bank has created optimism about the viability of banks engaged in extending micro-credit to the poor. The inaugural ceremony of Grameen Phone, the largest telephone service in Bangladesh, took place at Hasina’s office on March 26, 1997. Using Grameen Phone, Hasina made the first call to Thorbjorn Jagland, the then-Norwegian prime minister. When her conversation ended with Jagland, she received another call, this one from Laily Begum, a Grameen telephone employee. However, this long relationship was doomed in 2007 after Yunus disclosed his intention to form a political party, Nagorik Shakti

From friends to foe

In the last two years, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has waged a destructive campaign against Grameen and its founder, Muhammad Yunus. The New York Times reports, " Her actions appear to be retaliation for Mr. Yunus’s announcement in 2007 that he would seek public office, even though he never went through with his plans". According to Times of India, one other factor contributed to her brash decision against Yunus: the Nobel Peace Prize

Hasina thought that the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee would give her the prize for signing a peace treaty, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in 1997. On March 9, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam revealed the government’s attitude when he said, “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize…” He went on to challenge the wisdom of the Nobel committee for not awarding the prize to his master, Hasina, for the CHT accord.

Historical description

On January 11, 2007, Army General Moeen U Ahmed staged a military coup. Meanwhile, Yunus turned down his request to become the nation’s fourth Chief Advisor after Khaleda Zia’s term ended. Yunus, however, suggested the general pick Fakhruddin Ahmed for the job. Fakhruddin took office on January 11, 2007 and made it clear on his very first day that he intended not only to arrange a free and fair election but also to clean up corruption. While Khalada and Hasina criticized Fakruddin and claimed that it was not his job to clean up corruption, Yunus expressed his satisfaction. In an interview with the AFP news agency, Yunus remarked that politicians in Bangladesh only work for money, saying, “There is no ideology here.” Hasina had a harsh reaction to Yunus’ comments, calling him a “usurer who has not only failed to eradicate poverty but has also nurtured poverty.” This was Hasina’s first public statement against Yunus. One could make an analogy between Yunus’ involvement as a nonpolitician and the role that Czech writer Václav Havel played in his country after the overthrow of the Communist regime. Later Yunus announced the name of this prospective political party, Nagorik Shakti (Citizen's Power), saying he had a mission to enter the political arena in his nation in hope of changing its identity from “bottomless basket” to “rising tiger.” However, on May 3, Yunus published a third open letter and put his political ambitions to rest.

Proceedings

Bangladesh government launched the first trial against Yunus in December 2010, one month after the release of Caught in Micro Debt, a documentary by Tom Heinemann. Screened on Norwegian television on November 30, 2010, the film broadcast the allegation that Yunus stashed approximately $100 million in 1996 into Grameen Kalyan, a sister company of Grameen Bank. In a statement, however, Yunus denied the allegations. After completing a full investigation, the Norwegian government found Yunus innocent. However, Prime Minister Hasina used the situation as to increase sustained attacks on Yunus: these included claims that Yunus’ age means he’s too old to run the bank, Grameen has created companies unlawfully, and the bank operates as an organ of the government. The bank has denied all illegalities, arguing, among other things, that age limits do not apply in this case since Grameen, like BRAC, is a special bank. Yunus has also become subject to legal harassment over three criminal cases. A criminal defamation case was filed against Yunus for criticizing politicians in 2007. A food inspector filed another case against Yunus, alleging that yogurt manufactured by the Grameen-Danone was adulterated. The final blow came on March 3, 2011. Bangladesh Bank informed Grameen in a letter that Yunus had been removed from Grameen, citing that he was older than the mandatory retirement age of 60, even though nine of the bank's directors-who were elected by 8.3 million Grameen Bank borrowers-allowed him to stay on the job after he had crossed that threshold. Backed by nine boards of directors, 22 thousand employees, and 8.3 million Grameen borrowers, Yunus defied the government order, returned to Grameen’s headquarters in Dhaka, and lodged an appeal at Dhaka High Court against the decision. However, Justice Mohammad Momtazuddin Ahmed and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore delivered the verdict against Yunus, claiming that Yunus’ posting as the MD of Grameen since 1999 was illegal as he had reached the age of 60 by then. However, Yunus still did not lose faith in the justice system. Backed by international leaders (e.g., Hillary and Bill Clinton), national leaders (e.g., Sir Fazle Hasan Abed) and 8.3 million Grameen borrowers, Yunus filed an appeal in Bangladesh Supreme Court against the High Court’s verdict. The full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque heard the appeal on March 15 and delivered the verdict which upheld Yunus removal by government.

New developments

On August 2, 2012, Sheikh Hasina’s approved a draft of “Grameen Bank Ordinance 2012” to increase government control over the bank. Currently, that power resides with the bank’s directors—consisting of nine poor women—who were elected by 8.3 million Grameen borrowers. Hasina also ordered a fresh investigation into the activities and financial transactions of Yunus in his later years as Managing Director of Grameen, but people see the move as nothing more than an attempt to destroy his image. The prime minister also alleged that Yunus had received his earnings without the necessary permission from the government, including his Nobel Peace Prize earnings and the royalties from his books. On October 4, 2013, Bangladesh's cabinet has approved the draft of a new law that will give the country's central bank closer control over Grameen Bank, raising the stakes in a long-running dispute with the pioneering microlender. The Grameen Bank Act 2013 was approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday. It was passed by parliament on November 7, 2013, and replaced the Grameen Bank Ordinance, the law that underpinned the creation of Grameen Bank as a specialized microcredit institution in 1983. The government new plan is to break Grameen into 19 pieces. The New York Times reports:

Since then, the government has started an investigation into the bank and is now planning to take over Grameen — a majority of whose shares are owned by its borrowers — and break it up into 19 regional lenders.