The Congress of Bangladeshi Americans Inc. vehemently refuted the baseless accusations made by Dr. Muhammad Yunus and firmly stood against his false claims. The organisation presented a strong statement of protest against such fabrications and sought to set the record straight.

The statement is given below

Yunus lies about tax evasion:

Dr. Yunus made a false claim in a recent interview with Deutsche Welle. Younus stated that he went to court not to evade taxes but to clarify whether he needed to pay them and that he immediately paid the tax as soon as the court explained the situation. However, this statement is entirely false and misleading.

He created two institutions, "Yunus Trust" in 2009 and "Yunus Family Trust" in 2011. Its main objective was tax evasion. In the 2011-12 financial year, Yunus donated about 62 crore taka to these two institutions. He did not pay tax on donations. He also gave money to both institutions in the next two years and did not pay taxes. Note that the trustee of these trusts is also himself.

Then, Bangladesh's National Board of Revenue (NRB) objected to these irregularities. The law says that money will not be taxable if you donate to your wife, son, or daughter. In all other cases, tax is payable. Even though the law is written, Yunus keeps patching this simple matter.

Yunus went to the Tax Commission, the Tax Appellate Division, and the court. Its primary purpose is delay. This is an old habit of Yunus. Taking advantage of the long process of the judicial system in Bangladesh, Yunus went to court with a simple matter.

Yunus was absent and ill for twelve years, leading to him not paying taxes. As a result, the amount he owed increased to 12 crore rupees. Instead of paying his long-standing tax dues, Dr. Younus filed a case in court seeking tax exemption. While he benefited from dodging paying taxes for 12 years, undoubtedly, his dubious reputation is now questioned.

Similarly, in another case involving the National Board of Revenue (NBR), he dragged NBR to court for more than ten years, even though there was a provision to appeal by depositing 25 percent. The court also recently directed him to file an appeal according to the prevailing rules. He went to court with the ulterior motive of delaying the easily solvable matter for 10/15 years by changing the dates one after the other on various pretexts, such as travel abroad and illness without following the rules.

Incidentally, Yunus donates considerable money to the two charities established in his name; these institutions have yet to do any charity work in the last 15 years.

In an interview with the Deutsche Velle talk show arranged by Khaled Muhiuddin, Dr. Muhammad Yunus claimed, "I did not do any irregularities in Grameen Bank. No income tax has been evaded".

Grameen Bank irregularities were typical under the leadership of Dr. Younu. Law was meant to be broken at his whim.

Professor Muhammad Yunus has been the managing director of Grameen Bank since its inception until he was forced to resign, getting a court verdict.

To ensure the success of Grameen Bank and consider the personality and innovation of the entrepreneurs of Grameen Bank, the government allowed Grameen Bank to run according to the wishes of Professor Yunus.

Taking advantage of this good gesture from the government, he managed the activities of Grameen Bank carelessly, breaking every bank's rules and regulations.

The board of directors or its chairman he appointed never raised any questions about these grave legal matters.

In the 1990s, Norway wanted to explore some aspects of Grameen Bank. The government then asked to discuss and resolve this issue with Grameen Bank.

Dr. Muhammad Younus remained Managing Director, even at the company-regulated retirement age of 60

In 1999, the Board of Directors appointed Prof. Muhammad Yunus as Managing Director for an indefinite period despite his age of 60 years, without following the employment rules of the bank.

In this engagement, the law was not respected, and Bangladesh Bank's approval was not obtained.

Bangladesh Bank commented in its inspection book 1999 against this irregular engagement.

In 2010, a Norwegian television program aired the matter, and there were calls for an investigation. As a reflection of this, Professor Yunus was asked to resign in 2011.

Professor Yunus then took recourse to the court and resigned in April 2011 per the court verdict. He played the trickery game with income tax.

National Board of Revenue Act 216/Income-tax/2004/No.S, R, dated July 13, 2004, and the GovernmentGovernment exempted the income of any citizen of Bangladesh irrespective of resident/non- resident status from income tax payable under the Income-tax Ordinance, 1984. by doing

Professor Muhammad Yunus, from July 2004 to June 2011 (7 financial years), received a total of 50 crore 61 lakh 85 thousand 588 rupees as tax-free income from 133 foreign institutions, awards from 10 institutions, and royalty from 13 institutions. A total of 12 crores 65 lakhs 46 thousand 3 hundred and 97 takas have taken advantage of income tax exemption by showing.

Dr. Younus was the managing director before receiving this honor, award, or royalty from abroad. Yunus did not seek the approval of the bank's board of directors.

Irregularity in fund transfer

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On December 31, 1996, the above amount was claimed to be transferred from Grameen Bank to the institution called 'Grameen Kalyan.' Still, as the funds were not transferred, the money from 'Grameen Kalyan' as the source of the existing assets of Grameen Bank was again deeded as a loan on the same day. The transfer has to be demonstrated.

Through this, Grameen Bank has tried to evade income tax applicable to the amount considered 'unexplained income' if there is no fund against the assets.

In this case, the conditions of Income Tax Exemption Deduction SRO No. 93-Act/2000 have been violated:

The agreement between Grameen Bank and Grameen Kalyan regarding funds transfer was executed in May 1997.

However, the transfer of funds is shown in December 1996, i.e., five months before the signing of the agreement.

The government exempted Grameen Bank from income tax but not Grameen Kalyan. Hence, the transfer of funds has been illegal.

The above amount was transferred from Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan after January 1, 1997. The said transfer was shown on December 31, 1996, to reconcile the accounts in the audit report.