DHAKA: The United States said it’s concerned that the government of Bangladesh may pursue a tax evasion case against Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, and urged fair and transparent treatment of the Nobel laureate.

The State Department noted Yunus’s achievements in improving the lives of Bangladesh’s poorest citizens through Grameen’s microfinance lending and expects that a qualified managing director will be named to replace him, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Bangladesh’s tax authority plans to serve notice on Yunus for alleged violation of tax exemption rules, following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s approval for the National Board of Revenue to take action. The notice is based on a probe of foreign income Yunus earned and tax treatment he received from 2004 to 2011, according to a letter the board released to reporters on Sept. 9.

Yunus received tax exemptions valued at 126.54 million taka ($1.6 million) on 506.18 million taka given to him in honorariums, awards and royalties from foreign sources, according to the letter. Yunus did not get permission from the government before receiving the money as a “public servant” in accordance with tax laws, the board said.

A government review earlier this year concluded that because Grameen was created under a special law, it should be considered a government bank.

Yunus didn’t breach any law as Grameen’s managing director and his activities were approved by the bank’s board, the Yunus Centre, which promotes his ideas and programs, said in an e-mailed statement on the tax case.

Yunus resigned from Grameen in 2011 after the country’s central bank said he’d breached retirement norms by staying at the helm of the lender after turning 60.

Source: Bloomberg.com
BDST: 0858 HRS, SEP 11, 2013
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