In money laundering case, Bangladesh prosecutors allege that Muhammad Yunus, 13 others transferred $2.2 million from workers compensation fund.
Kamran Reza Chowdhury/Dhaka
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus spoke out against making defendants stand in an iron cage in court, moments after his arraignment in Dhaka on Wednesday over charges linked to alleged money laundering.
Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol said the Special Judge’s Court-4 had accepted the charge sheet submitted by the Anti-Corruption Commission and set July 15 to begin hearing testimony against Yunus and 13 co-defendants.
Exiting the court on Wednesday, Yunus told reporters he was being harassed.
“Today, we had been inside an iron cage for long hours. We were told, ‘you stay here,’ but we passed the whole hearing period inside the iron cage,” he said.
“Earlier, I raised similar questions, whether it was a fair practice – as far as I know, an accused person will be treated as innocent until they are convicted.”
The 83-year-old compared himself and the others to animals.
“This is a humiliation for me – an innocent person must stand inside an iron cage during the whole hearing time! This is an abominable practice … this provision should be reviewed,” he said.
The money laundering charges against Yunus mark the second criminal case against him that has gone to trial. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 in recognition of his pioneering micro-credit loans that helped Bangladeshi people – women in particular – lift themselves out of poverty through the Grameen Bank, which he founded.
Yunus is out on bail following his previous conviction over labor law violations. On Jan. 1, a court in Dhaka sentenced him and three conspirators to six months.
Law Minister Anisul Huq challenged Yunus’s complaint.
“Dr. Yunus was given a chair to sit, but he rejected the offer saying he could not sit as other co-accused persons did not get a chair,” Huq told BenarNews. “Dr. Yunus tried to create an issue in the trial.”
While he is popular among Western leaders for his work in the field of poverty alleviation, Yunus was removed from Grameen’s board of directors in 2011, amid legal battles with the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who remains in power.
Mizanur Rahman, a former chairman of National Human Rights Commission, supported Yunus.
“Putting Muhammad Yunus inside an iron cage was not decent at all – he is not a serious, notorious criminal. This is ‘too much’ to put a man of his stature inside an iron cage,” Rahman told BenarNews.
“[T]his sort of practice does not convey a good message about the country’s judicial system,” he said.
Money transfer
Prosecutors allege that Yunus and the others illegally transferred 260 million taka (U.S. $2.2 million) from the Grameen Telecom workers’ compensation fund to the employees’ welfare union.
“Examining the documents and papers, the court has ruled that money laundering takes place in it. So, the money laundering charge has been framed against Yunus and others,” prosecutor Kajol said.
“This is not the point to consider whether Yunus embezzled the money. The point is – the workers’ money had been transferred to the account of the employees’ union,” he said. “According to the Money Laundering Prevention Act and the Penal Code, this is money laundering.”
If convicted, Yunus could face up to 12 years in prison, according to Kajol.
The prosecutor noted that Grameen Telecom had agreed to pay 4.3 billion taka ($37.2 million) as compensation.
Defense attorney Abdullah Al Mamun said the charge against Yunus was “completely baseless” and aimed at “harassing” the Nobel laureate on political grounds.
“Money laundering means embezzlement and personal gains. Has Dr. Yunus embezzled the money?” Mamun told BenarNews.
“That 260 million taka was transferred from one account of the workers to another account. With their consent, the money was transferred to pay the fees of the lawyers of the workers – where is money laundering here?”
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