Muhammad Yunus gets bail over sacking of workers

Muhammad Yunus speaks on the 4th annual Social Business Day in Dhaka. File pic/AP

Dhaka: A court in Bangladesh's capital granted bail on Sunday to micro-credit pioneer and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus over the firing of three employees by Grameen Communications, where he is chairman. Acting Chairman of the 3rd Labor Court in Dhaka, Zakia Parveen, granted the bail when Yunus appeared before the court. The country's high court had set a November 7 deadline last month for him to appear in person.

It had asked authorities not to arrest or harass Yunus before the deadline. Court official Wasiur Rahman said the court granted bail of 10,000 takas ($120) in bonds in each of the three cases. Defence lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan said Yunus would not be required to appear in person before the court until any indictments are handed down.

The labour court had earlier issued an arrest warrant for Yunus after he failed to appear because he was abroad. The three employees filed the cases in July, saying they were terminated illegally after seeking to form a trade union. Yunus founded Grameen Bank, which provides small loans to impoverished people, and shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with the organisation.

Yunus, who now travels extensively across the world to promote social business, has faced several investigations by the government of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has frosty relations with him. He was removed from the bank after surpassing retirement age. A government-sanctioned investigation had earlier said that Grameen Bank violated its charter as a micro-lender by creating affiliates that did not benefit the bank's shareholders, and recommended the government to merge those businesses with the bank.

Yunus maintains that those businesses are independent and should remain so.

2006
Year Yunus was given the Nobel Peace Prize

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