Bangladesh forces Nobel laureate from microlender

[March 02, 2011]  DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been forced from his position as head of the microfinance lender he founded, Grameen Bank, a central bank official said Wednesday.

Yunus' firing caps a string of problems the outspoken activist has been facing, including a defamation suit by a local politician and allegations that he misappropriated Norweigian development funds. The microfinance industry that he created has also come under attack for placing onerous conditions on borrowers that led to suicides in neighboring India's Andhra Pradesh state last year.

Bangladesh's central bank ordered his removal after accusations he violated the country's retirement laws, A.F.M. Asaduzzaman, an official at Bangladesh Bank told The Associated Press. Grameen Bank has been notified by letter, Asaduzzman said. He provided no further details.

The government owns a 25 percent stake in Grameen, which lends small amounts of money to the poor and spurred similar lending practices worldwide. The innovation won Yunus the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with the bank itself.

The central bank has claimed that Yunus -- a longtime critic of the government -- violated the country's retirement laws by staying on as Grameen's head well past the mandatory retirement age of 60. Yunus is 70.

Grameen Bank says the normal retirement rule does not apply to it because it is run under a special 1983 law. Yunus was appointed managing director of the bank for an indefinite period in 2000 when he reached 60, the bank says.

Yunus could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

Yunus has been mired in controversy after revelations of an unauthorized bank transfer and as the microfinance industry comes under attack for placing onerous conditions on borrowers that led to suicides in India's Andhra Pradesh state last year.

Controversy swirled around Yunus after a Norwegian television documentary that screened in December accused him of transferring Norwegian development funds from Grameen Bank to another venture without prior approval in 1996. Behind the scenes pressure by the Norwegian Embassy in Dhaka resulted in the funds being transferred back to Grameen Bank in 1998.

The Bangladesh government set up a committee in January to look into the allegations and submit a report in three months. A Norwegian investigation that was sparked by the documentary said the matter was resolved when the funds were returned in May 1998.

Yunus is also facing a defamation trial in Bangladesh, where many believe he was a supporter of the former military-backed interim government. A local politician in northern Bangladesh accused Yunus in 2007 of defaming him in an interview in which Yunus said politicians were only motivated by money.

At the time of the remarks, Bangladesh was under a state of emergency and many politicians, including current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were behind bars on charges of corruption. An interim government backed by the country's influential military eventually handed over power to the elected government of Hasina in January 2009.

[Associated Press; By FARID HOSSAIN]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.