Yunus Centre terms allegation baseless
At a weekly meeting on Monday, the cabinet decided to take legal action against Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus for allegedly submitting tax returns with incorrect information, illegal earnings, as well as illegal transfer of money from Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan. The meeting was held at the Bangladesh Secretariat and was presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Later, cabinet secretary M Mosharaf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters that the cabinet had asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the banking division of the finance ministry to take legal action against Dr Yunus after a discussion on a NBR report received by the government.
“From June 2007 to June 2011, Dr Yunus had earned Tk. 506,185,588 as honorium, prize money and royalty from 136 foreign firms. During the same period, he dodged income tax amounting to Tk. 126,546,397 against his earnings. At that time, Dr Yunus was the managing director of Grammen Bank,” he said.
The cabinet secretary, quoting the NBR report, said Dr Yunus had also taken illegal tax exemption for other organisations of Grameen Kalyan. He had also transferred money from Grammen Bank to Grameen Kalyan through illegal means.
“Dr Yunus was a public servant as the chief of Grameen Bank. He should have taken permission from the government before any foreign trip. That was not done. Also, he had not abided by the legal procedure to take home the income from foreign institutions. Even his tax exemptions were not legal,” the cabinet secretary added. Bhuiyan said the cabinet, at a meeting on August 2, 2011, had asked the NBR to prepare a report on the amount of money taken home by Dr Yunus. The NBR was also asked to examine the legality of the tax exemptions.
“As per the government’s rule, Dr Yunus could function as managing director of Grameen Bank till the age of 60. As per his service contract, Dr Yunus was not supposed to receive any other benefits other than his salary after crossing that age. But he had taken almost every privilege during his tenure,” Bhuiyan added.
The cabinet secretary said Dr Yunus had also arranged low-interest loans for his relatives from Grameen Bank, which was a gross misuse of authority. He also said that Dr Yunus did not state correct information in his income tax returns. He further said those who had prepared the returns and submitted them could not escape responsibility for providing wrong information. “It was a specific violation of income tax rules as per the report prepared by the NBR. The NBR will publish it soon by issuing a press release,” he added.
When asked if any case would be filed against Dr Yunus, the cabinet secretary said: “No decision has been taken to file a case against him. But the authorities will take legal action in this regard.”
The cabinet also approved the draft Safe Food Act 2013, with a provision for five years of imprisonment and a fine of Tk. 5 lakh for violation of the proposed act to ensure food safety. The cabinet also gave approval to the draft Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studied (BIISS) Act 2013.
The cabinet approved a national strategy for all documented and undocumented Myanmar citizens in Bangladesh. Under the strategy, the government will carry out surveys to ascertain the actual number of Myanmar citizens staying in Bangladesh illegally.
Meanwhile, Yunus Centre described in a reaction to the Cabinet decision directing the National Board of Revenue(NBR) for taking legal action against Nobel laureate Professor Dr Mohammad Yunus for tax evasion was baseless.
In a statement on Monday evening the Centre said, the Grameen Bank(GB) has been created by law. Its board of directors is the highest authority to run its affairs by law.
Whatever Professor Yunus has done were through the approval of the board of directors. He did nothing in violation of the law,the statement said.
Professor Yunus earned from abroad were from lectures, royalty from his books and prizes through proper banking channel.
He had always brought his income from abroad through banking channels and paid all the taxes after submitting the income tax returns to the NBR.
The statement further said, he had always showed all his local and foreign earnings, while submitting the income tax returns. It implies that it is the duty of those who fix taxes to determine the items, which are taxable and which are exempted from taxes.
The NBR never raised any question about evasion of the taxes nor had they ever issued any notice in this regard.
The NBR has mentioned as per Supreme Court ruling that Professor Yunus is a public servant and as such is liable to pay taxes as per rules.
-With The Independent input
