Bangladesh’s ‘Banker of the Poor’, Yunus, handed $1.1m tax bill

According to attorneys, Bangladesh’s top court has ordered Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate and father of microfinance, to pay more than $1 million in taxes on a $7 million payment he made to three charity trusts.

Yunus, 83, often known as the “Banker of the Poor,” is credited with helping millions of people escape poverty with his groundbreaking micro-credit institution. However, he has a falling out with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who claims he is “sucking blood” from the underprivileged.

For his efforts to support economic development, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

According to Yunus’ attorney Sarder Jinnat Ali, “The Supreme Court… dismissed our petition.”

As the law does not permit tax breaks for gifts to trusts, the court, which confirmed a ruling by a lower court, declared on Sunday that Yunus must pay.

Between 2011 and 2014, Yunus gave 767 million taka ($7 million) to the Professor Muhammad Yunus Trust, the Yunus Family Trust, and the Yunus Center.

He must pay 150 million taka ($1.4 million) in taxes in total, of which he has already paid 30 million taka, according to the court’s judgment.

By providing microloans to tens of millions of rural women through Grameen Bank, which he created in the 1980s, Yunus has been recognized for aiding in the eradication of extreme poverty in Bangladesh.

Hasina has personally criticized Yunus, blaming him for the World Bank abandoning a bridge project that was beset by corruption suspicions. Last year, Bangladesh’s anti-graft authority requested a thorough investigation into companies that Yunus chairs.

Hasina declared Yunus should be “dipped in a river” for endangering its completion when the bridge near Dhaka finally opened in June of last year.

40 influential people from around the world, including former UN head Ban Ki-moon and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, published a joint letter in March urging Bangladesh to stop its “unfair” attacks and harassment on Yunus.