The National Board of Revenue (NBR) says it will demand an explanation from the Grameen Bank over Muhammad Yunus’ alleged tax irregularities.
NBR Chairman Ghulam Hussain said they had already initiated the process.
“We’ll seek an explanation from the Grameen Bank, not Yunus,” he said at a media briefing after a Cabinet decision to take legal measures against the Nobel Laureate earlier on Monday.
“Legal actions will be taken if their explanation is not satisfactory,” Hussain added.
On Aug 2, 2012, the Cabinet had asked the NBR to provide a detailed report on how much funds Yunus had brought from abroad while heading the Grameen Bank and whether any of that was illegal and whether the tax rebate he claimed was justified or not.
The NBR and the Internal Resources Division (IRD) submitted the report on Monday after a year-long investigation.
Based on the report, Monday’s Cabinet meeting decided to take legal actions against Yunus over allegations of tax evasion by wrongly claiming tax relief, violating foreign travel regulations and misuse of power.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the NBR will initiate measures for the tax violations while the Banking Division of the Ministry of Finance would take action over the bank-related issues.
On the tax-related measures, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the NBR might serve a notice asking Yunus why he had done so and why he had not taken permission.
NBR Chairman Hossain said other government agencies would deal with allegations found against Grameen Bank during the probe.
“We will only deal with the tax-related issues,” he said.
The IRD in the report said the tax relief Yunus had taken was not in line with the regulations. “The Grameen Bank Ordinance provides for rebating taxes of the bank, not other institutions of the Bank.”
Yunus was mentioned in the report as a former government employee. “He did not take permission from appropriate authorities which is a must for ‘public servants’ travelling abroad,” according to the report.
Secretary Bhuiyan said the probe found that Yunus had received honorarium from 133 foreign institutions, 10 awards and 13 royalties from 2004 to 2011.
He claimed the correct information on these amounts was not properly presented in the income tax returns. Yunus was given conditional income tax return and the conditions were violated in several cases. Information on these did not come up in the income tax return by the Grameen Bank, Bhuiyan said.
“Presenting information incorrectly in the income tax return is a violation of law. Those who had prepared the return and the chief executive of the organisation (Yunus) cannot avoid responsibilities,” the Secretary said.
Bhuiyan said Yunus had granted loan to his family institution with low interests while in office. “There is a conflict of interests and so the NBR report speaks of abuse of power,” he said.
The government decision came after Yunus openly backed the opposition demand for a non-party caretaker government to oversee the national election.
Yunus was relieved of his duties as the Grameen Bank MD, with which he had shared the Nobel Prize for Peace, at the behest of the government.
He had been a stern critic of the government and claiming that there were plots to destroy the Bank.
The BNP had voiced its support for Yunus and the Nobel laureate in turn cleared his position over the caretaker government issue which drew flaks from the ruling Awami League leaders.
Source: Bd news24
