Bangladesh: Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus granted bail in corruption case

In a $2.3 million embezzlement case, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was granted bail by a Bangladeshi court on Sunday.

Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for being the first to utilize microcredit to aid the underprivileged, was given a six-month prison sentence in January on an unrelated allegation of breaking labor regulations. He has appealed after receiving bail in that instance as well.

The allegation of theft, according to prosecutor Mir Ahmmad Ali Salam, concerns a workers’ welfare fund of Grameen Telecom, which holds 34.2% of the nation’s largest mobile phone firm, Grameenphone, a division of Telenor, the telecom behemoth from Norway.

“The charges involve the embezzlement of over 250 million takas and money laundering. The accused gave the money to trade union leaders instead of the workers. This way they deprived the ordinary workers of their rightful earnings,” Salam told the media.

On Sunday, Yunus and seven other accused showed up for court, but the remaining six were not present.

Abdullah Al Mamun, the defense attorney, informed the court that Yunus, 83, and the other people were innocent.

More than 170 world leaders and Nobel laureates pleaded with Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to put a halt to Yunus’s legal actions last year. According to his admirers, he has been singled out due to his chilly relationship with Hasina. The accusations have been refuted by the government.