Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said it is not the government but Grameen Bank (GB) founder director Nobel Laureate Prof Mohammad Yunus who have been trying to destroy the bank of the poor.
“I think Prof Yunus himself has kept alive the vow to destroy Grameen Bank,” the Finance Minister said addressing a press conference at Sylhet Circuit House. He has been issuing statements in this regard since July last. The issue has also been discussed in parliament on June 26. There I, as the Finance Minister of the government, made it clear that the splitting of the Grameen Bank into 19 pieces by the government as alleged by Prof Yunus is not true.”
“The government feels proud of Grameen Bank and can never do harm to it,” he said, adding that the government’s stand should not be evaluated based on the recommendations made by the GB commission. Muhith also observed that Yunus’ ‘propaganda’ about the government’s intention to destroy the Grameen Bank is in fact a conspiracy to destroy the bank.
Since his resignation from the post of GB managing director, there have been attempts to make the bank dysfunctional from Yunus’ side, the finance minister further alleged. “At first, it was alleged that the government wants to snatch the rights of women by capturing the Grameen Bank. It was also spread that the government will snatch the deposit the bank has. I think all these propaganda is a conspiracy to destroy the Grameen Bank,” he said.
Muhith said he thinks the High Court writ petition to stop the appointment of a new executive director to the Grameen Bank was also made at Yunus’ behest. “As I said Yunus is a clever politician, but he doesn’t want to be donned by the political robe. What he is doing now is totally a feat of the politician, devoid of ethics and an attempt to destroy the Grameen Bank,” he added. -UNB
