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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

[ALOCHONA] Bangladesh says Yunus's Grameen 'flouting' rules-Future of Grameen Phone

Dear Alochoks

There is one important morsel in this story that seems to have been glossed over. The government has cleared Yunus of mismanagement of funds and of charging high interest on loans. Both of these accusations were the mainstay of Hasina and her sycophants' venomous attacks on Yunus.

Can we now expect an equally humiliating apology from Hasina, her son, her sycophants and the rest of the morally bankrupt AL?

Can we now also expect Muhith to finally resign in disgust at the behaviour of his nethri and his peers? To remain is to support Yunus' treatment. I do not believe he does. But if he remains, then he has confirmed popular criticism of him as an opportunist. In which case, we will in future equate him rather than elevate him from the traitors that he calls friends.

------Original Message------
From: Ehteshamur (Shumel) Rahman
Sender: Erahmans Group
To: Erahmans Group
ReplyTo: Erahmans Group
Subject: [erahmans] FW: [BANGLA-IT] AFP: Bangladesh says Yunus's Grameen 'flouting' rules-Future of Grameen Phone
Sent: 27 Apr 2011 11:49

-----Original Message-----
From: bangla_ict@yahoogroups.com [mailto:bangla_ict@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Sayeed
Sent: 27 April 2011 03:35
To: Sayeed Rahman; bangla_ict@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [BANGLA-IT] AFP: Bangladesh says Yunus's Grameen 'flouting'
rules-Future of Grameen Phone

Future of Grameen Phone:
The report also proposes that the Grameen Bank should take over the
Grameen Telecom which has 34 per cent stake in Grameenphone, equivalent
to $1.25 billion.
============================================

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVI4KsYhqu6TBEsq1JPGf
ztos5Ag?docId=CNG.566d80b1e85ec3f4dbdf9df60aec90c4.441

Source:http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/16798.html

DHAKA - A Bangladeshi probe has accused Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus of
turning his pioneering microfinance bank into a "massive conglomerate"
against its own rules, the chief investigator said Tuesday.

The government investigation into Grameen Bank found a "large-scale
trend in flouting of rules and regulations in the management of the
bank", probe committee chief A.K. Monowar Uddin Ahmed told AFP.

The finance minister announced on Monday that the probe had cleared the
bank of misusing Norwegian aid and of charging excessive interest on
loans.

But Ahmed said the government ordinance that set up the bank -- which
shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Yunus for their work providing
small cash loans to the poor -- should be amended to tighten regulation
of Grameen.

"It needs a new legal framework" to regulate the bank and its many
sister firms, known as social businesses, which include a number of
profitable foreign joint ventures, he said.

"Grameen Bank is now the kind of massive conglomerate we see in South
Korea or Japan," he said.

The bank has huge influence in Bangladesh, and its sister companies have
moved into solar panels, mobile phones and other consumer goods, but
this expansion did not adhere to the original Grameen Bank law, the
probe said.

Grameen Group has joint ventures with companies like French food giant
Danone, Norway's Telenor through Grameen Phone -- Bangladesh's largest
mobile company by subscribers -- and Japan's largest clothing retailer
Uniqlo.

"The Grameen Bank has violated its own laws, rules and regulations...
consistently on the way," the committee's report said, according to a
copy obtained by AFP.

The review was launched after a Norwegian documentary claimed $96
million of aid was diverted in 1996 from Grameen Bank to other parts of
Grameen group.

"Grameen Bank has become a person-oriented organisation, not a rules or
system-based organisation," the report said, calling for an overhaul of
the board structure and the restructuring of some sister companies.

"Together, Grameen Bank and its sister organisations have emerged as a
big conglomerate, which needs to be redefined and restructured," the
report said.

The Grameen Bank dismissed reports of irregularities as "untrue and
baseless".

The bank is still awaiting a final decision on a separate government
claim that Yunus was illegally reappointed managing director, with the
Supreme Court due to review an order for his dismissal early next month.

Yunus was last month fired by a central bank order, which claimed he
failed to seek the bank's approval when he was reappointed managing
director of Grameen Bank indefinitely in 1999.

The High Court upheld the order in a March 8 ruling, saying the
dismissal was legal and that Yunus had also exceeded Grameen Bank's
mandatory retirement age of 60.

Backed by international lobbying, Yunus has defied the sacking order by
filing a legal appeal and continuing to work at Grameen Bank's Dhaka
headquarters.

The Supreme Court has said it would review the dismissal decision on May
2.

Supporters of Yunus, who has also been vilified in the Bangladeshi
press, say his legal woes stem from a fallout with Hasina in 2007 over
his short-lived attempt to found a political party


------------------------------------

Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com

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