Bangladesh interim govt's chief adviser Muhammad Yunus acquitted in graft case

DHAKA: Muhammad Yunus was Sunday acquitted in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission over the misappropriation of funds from the Grameen Telecom Workers and Employees Welfare Fund, three days after he took oath as the head of Bangladesh's interim government, according to a media report.

Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka gave the order after accepting the graft agency's application, seeking to withdraw the case under the Code of Criminal Procedure, an official of the anti-graft agency was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.

On August 7, the Labour Appellate Tribunal acquitted the Nobel laureate and three top officials of Grameen Telecom - Ashraful Hassan, M Shahjahan and Nurjahan Begum - in a labour law violation case in which they were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined Tk 30,000 each in January.

Yunus, the 84-year-old economist, on Thursday took oath as the interim government's chief adviser - a position equivalent to the prime minister.

Nurjahan Begum, who was also an accused in the graft case, is a member of the 16-member Council of Advisers, which will assist Yunus in running the state's affairs.

Yunus had been in a protracted row with the Sheikh Hasina government due to obscure reasons while authorities initiated a series of investigations against him after she came to power in 2008.

Bangladesh authorities launched a review of the statutory Grameen Bank's activities in 2011 and fired Yunus as its founding managing director on charges of violating the government retirement regulation.

Yunus was charged under dozens of cases during Hasina's regime.

Many people believe Hasina became enraged when Yunus announced that he would form a political party in 2007 when a military-backed government ran the country and Hasina was in prison.