Grameen Bank refutes charges
Dhaka, Dec 3 (bdnews24.com)--Grameen Bank has dismissed reports that
its founder Muhammad Yunus had diverted nearly Tk 7 billion in aid to
another company as "inaccurate and misleading".
It denied any wrongdoing and said 'these reports are a total
fabrication and baseless".
Norway's national TV NRK aired a documentary on November 30 titled
"Fanget i Mikrogjeld" or "Caught in Micro debt", based on which
bdnews24.com ran a report on December 1. According to the documentary,
Nobel laureate Yunus transferred the money to Grameen Kalyan, which
was in no way involved with microcredit operations.
Responding to the allegations, Grameen Bank said there was no
wrongdoing in the agreement between the bank and Grameen Kalyan under
which it received Tk 3,917 million from the bank.
"Decisions were taken by Grameen Bank Board, with due deliberation,
good faith, and with good intentions to benefit the poor," the
rejoinder said.
Grameen Kalyan was never given the control of possession of Tk 3,917
million, rather it lent back Tk 3474 million to Grameen Bank which
created an opportunity to charge interest on the loan.
"Only Tk 442 million remained with Grameen Kalyan as it was created
out of the interest."
The rejoinder said the bank and donors agreed to create Social
Advancement Fund (SAF) with 2 per cent interest rate on the donor
money for the welfare of the Grameen Bank borrowers and employers.
"Grameen Kalyan received 2.0 per cent interest on the money."
"Grameen Bank believed that if the SAF was kept within the Grameen
Bank and managed by Grameen Bank then it would not receive the
attention it deserves."
In addition to that, contribution to SAF would have been subjected to
40 per cent tax and it might have compelled the bank to reduce or stop
charging 2.0 per cent interest rate on revolving fund to contribute to
SAF, the rejoinder said.
It said the whole issue was a matter of differing views by Grameen
Bank and Norad, the Norwegian aid agency
"Grameen Bank did not want go into battle on this issue and so
jeopardize our excellent relationship. Grameen Bank reversed its
decision and restored the status quo."
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=180581&cid=2
------------------------------------
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.comYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
alochona-digest@yahoogroups.com
alochona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
alochona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/