Nobel laureate Yunus loses Bangladesh court appeal

Nobel laureate Yunus loses Bangladesh court appeal

2011-04-05 21:00:58 GMT+7 (ICT)

DHAKA, BANGLADESH (BNO NEWS) -- Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus's appeal against his sacking from the micro-lending institution Grameen Bank he founded, The Daily Star reported.

A seven-member panel of judges turned down Yunus's attempt to challenge the country's central bank decision to remove him as managing director of Grameen Bank which he founded nearly three decades ago.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters that Yunus has no right to stay in the position and cannot legally sign any order of Grameen Bank following the Supreme Court order.

Shortly after the decision, Yunus filed a petition with the Supreme Court for withdrawing its order. Barrister Sara Hossain, a counsel for the Nobel laureate, told The Daily Star that the hearing on the recall petition will be held Wednesday.

The court fixed Wednesday for hearing another similar leave-to-appeal petition filed by nine Grameen Bank board members.

Yunus was relieved of his duties on March 2 through a central bank's letter sent to Grameen Bank Chairman Khondoker Muzammel Huq. The central bank said Yunus failed to seek its approval when he was reappointed in 2000, violating one of the statutes of the partly state-owned Grameen Bank.

The next day, Yunus and nine elected members of the board of directors filed separate writ petitions with the High Court challenging the legality of the letter. However, the High Court on March 8 rejected the two writ petitions, claiming the microcredit pioneer's posting as the managing director of Grameen Bank since 1999 was illegal as he had by then reached the age of 60, the official retirement age.

Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 with Grameen Bank, which is widely regarded as the pioneer of micro-finance, for improving the economic conditions of millions by giving small loans to borrowers. The bank now has 20,000 employees and 8.4 million borrowers in Bangladesh.

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