The Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 on Thursday granted bail to Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and 13 others in a case filed on charges of embezzling about Tk 25.22 crore of the聽 Grameen Telecom Workers鈥� profit participation fund.
Judge Syed Arafat Hossain of the court passed the order after hearing their bail petitions in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and it also set June 2 for a hearing on charge framing.
After the hearing, Yunus said to journalists on the court premises, 鈥業t is said to me that I suck blood of the poor but you [journalists] do not accept that.鈥�
鈥業 did not suck blood. I made one crore poor people owners of a bank. I have given them ownership, and no one has done it so far. This is true, and they are still owners of the bank,鈥� Yunus said.
鈥業t was said that I blocked World Bank funding in the Padma Bridge project and it was also said that I should be plunged into the Padma River, but you [journalist] did not believe that,鈥� he also said.
Yunus said, 鈥業 have come here today with a broken heart. The ACC has charged me with corruption. Many words are being hurled at me such as I committed forgery, embezzled money, and laundered money.鈥�
Addressing the journalists, he said, 鈥業t was said on many occasions that I was a usurer, but you did not believe that as I was not the owner of Grameen Bank. If any interest was taken, the owners of Grameen Bank took it.鈥�
He also said, 鈥榃hen I was ousted from Grameen Bank, members of the bank held 97 per cent ownership. If they took any interest, they did take it on their own. I was only an employee there, not an owner of the bank.鈥�
Earlier on April 2, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court accepted the charges pressed against the 14 accused and transferred the case to the Special Judge Court-4 for the next course of action.
On February 1, ACC deputy director Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, also the investigation officer in the case, submitted a charge sheet against them in the case.
The 13 other accused are Grameen Telecom managing director Nazmul Islam, directors Ashraful Hassan, Naznin Sultana, Parvin Mahmud, M Shahjahan, Nurjahan Begum, and SM Huzzatul Islam Latifee, Sramik-Karmachari Union president Kamruzzaman, general secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan and representative Mainul Islam, Jatiya Workers Federation office secretary Kamrul Hasan, and lawyers Zafrul Hasan Sharif and Yusuf Ali.
On May 30, last year, the ACC filed the case with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 accuing Yunus and others of the graft charges.聽
The 83-year-old, Yunus, known internationally as the 鈥榖anker to the poor鈥�, is credited with establishing a pioneering system of micro-finance loans that lifted millions out of poverty.
Yunus and his Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering work in 2006.
Yunus, who is facing more than 170 cases, was sentenced on January 1 this year to six months in jail by the Third Dhaka Labour Court in a case filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments for violating the labour law at Grameen Telecom.
Later, he filed an appeal with the Labour Appellate Tribunal, challenging the verdict.