Dhaka, Aug 2 ( The government will examine whether it was lawful for Muhammad Yunus to continue holding the office of Managing Director of Grameen Bank beyond the mandated age of 60. The government is also going to declare an ordinance with changes in the rules for appointing Managing Director of the Nobel prize-winning microlending institution founded in 1983 through a martial law ordinance.
The changes will come through the 'Grameen Bank Ordinance (Amendment) 2012', the draft of which the Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina endorsed on Thursday.
"The Cabinet asked the Banks and Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance to look into whether his holding office after the stipulated age was lawful or not, how much money he took in that time and whether it was legal," Cabinet Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan later told journalists.
Also, the National Board of Revenue was asked to submit a report on whether the Nobel Peace laureate brought in any money from abroad as a wage earner and if so, if he is allowed to do so and whether he got any tax waiver on the amount.
The NBR will make the report with the help of Bangladesh Bank, the Cabinet Secretary added.
Yunus and Grameen was flung into public glare after a Norwegian TV documentary in 2010 revealed that country's aid agency Norad's annoyance in the late 1990s over Yunus' handling of aid money meant for the Bank.
Yunus was challenged by the then Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh for failing to inform the donors before transferring the millions of dollars to a sister entity.
While the Norwegians later insisted that no criminal activity has taken place, Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim said it was "totally unacceptable that aid is used for other purposes than intended".
Grameen Bank claimed there was no wrongdoing in the agreement between the bank and Grameen Kalyan, under which it received Tk 3,917 million from Grameen Bank.
Chief executive since Grameen was founded originally with government support and ownership, Yunus was questioned by the central bank for continuing in his job far beyond the retirement age for any executive in any such institution in Bangladesh.
Yunus was nearly 71 when the Bangladesh Bank gave the notice in March 2011.
He went to the court and lost a series of legal battles, finally in the Supreme Court, eventually losing his hold on the institution he is credited with building.
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