DHAKA: The Yunus Centre, a Dhaka-based think tank established by Dr Muhammad Yunus, issued a statement repudiating the allegations of tax evasion, illegal transfer of donor funds and supporting Padma Bridge corruption claim raised against the Nobel laureate.
The statement said the prime minister, her son and ICT adviser, and top lawmakers of the country made strong accusations against Yunus on different platforms – from parliament to Facebook – in the last few days.
“He has been accused, in harshest language and terms, of being behind creating false allegations of corruption in the Padma Bridge project and the suspension of funds for Padma Bridge. Prof Yunus has never made any statement private or publicly to anyone about the possibility of corruption in the Padma Bridge project at any time. We condemn the false and baseless accusation,” it said.
The statement also addressed news reports quoting unnamed sources that Yunus has been charged with a Tk6.9 million fine by the National Board of Revenue for evading tax.
Terming the claim false, Yunus Centre said Yunus did not have any outstanding tax claim and paid all of his taxes fully and in due time.
The third major accusation, made by a news report regarding the illegal transfer of money abroad by Grameen Trust, an organisation set up to support micro-credit projects outside Bangladesh, was also strongly refuted in the statement.
It said donors provided money to Grameen Trust for the exclusive purpose of using it in other countries to build micro-credit programs.
All these transactions were approved by the authorities concerned and all the details are shown in the annual audit report of Grameen Trust, the statement said.
