Alleging again that Prof Muhammad Yunus has been lying about splitting Grameen Bank into pieces, Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Monday said the first concern of the government is now to protect the bank its reputation and style. “For serving that interest, we might have to give room to other place,” he told reporters after an Indian business delegation met him at his secretariat office. Muhith said he himself placed a statement earlier in parliament on the Grameen Bank issue as Prof Yunus had repeatedly raised such allegations. Asked whether the government would take actions on the basis of the final report of the Grameen Bank Commission, he said, “I can’t tell you right now…but something has to be taken in this tenure….” The Finance Minister also informed that the government would work on how to implement the recommendations of the Grameen Bank Commission as the government is contemplating a new rule to be introduced after the vetting of the Law Ministry for electing the Board of Directors of the GB. Previously, there was no rule for electing the Board of Directors of this micro credit institution. About the Grameen Telecom, Muhith said the government would have to consider various things as because Grameen Telecom is the largest foreign investment in the country even it is illegally sanctioned. “Its license was sought by somebody, but it was obtained by somebody else.” Responding to a question, the Finance Minister said he was feeling pressure giving responses to the open letters of many ministers of different countries and Congressmen on the Grameen Bank issue. “We’ve lost much time ……we’re gasping replying to one after another.” Again turning to Prof Yunus for his interference in the Grameen Bank, Muhith said, “He (Yunus) had been blocking and blocking, and that was his position as like ‘you’ve taken Grameen Bank from me and I’ll not let it to stand’.” The Finance Minister again termed Prof Yunus as a politician. “He (Yunus) is a politician, but he didn’t wear costumes of politics.” Asked about the transfer of dividends over the years from Grameen Phone to Grameen Telecom, Muhith said the government could not do much to the Grameen Phone as it is an incorporated private company and its majority shares belongs to Norwegian company Telenor. “As far as Grameen Phone is concerned, they don’t know the Grameen Bank, they know Grameen Telecom.” About the part of the report of the Grameen Bank Commission member Ajmalul Hossain QC submitted to Muhith on Friday, the Finance Minister said he was happy with the report. Referring to the Ajmalul Hossain QC opinion in his part of the report, Muhith said any statutory body cannot be owned by anyone other than the government. “So, the ownership of the Grameen Bank belongs to the government, no matter to what extent it holds its shares.” The Finance Minister said he would send this part of the report to the GB Commission chairman saying that the GB Commission had to face some difficulties while preparing their report of which the biggest difficulty was to find out the relationships among the GB and its 54 associate bodies. He also alleged that the Board of the Directors of the Grameen Bank did not discharge its responsibilities properly as well as its whole system of financial transactions was made mostly without any regulations and disciplines. – UNB
