Yunus’ lawyers sit with NBR over nearly Tk140 million unpaid ‘personal’ taxes

Lawyers for former Grameen Bank managing director Muhammad Yunus have sat with the National Board of Revenue over nearly Tk 140 million in unpaid taxes.

The six-member panel led by Ruhul Amin Sarker went to the Tax Zone-6 commissioner on Sunday to settle the matter.

Yunus is currently abroad.

The NBR called the meeting through a letter on Mar 23 asking the Nobel laureate to meet its official at its office over unpaid ‘personal’ taxes.

“We represented him as he is out of the country. As the matter is under judicial consideration, I would prefer to not give details on it,” Sarker told bdnews24.com after the meeting.

He also declined comment about the state of affairs.

“I cannot comment on its resolution yet. All I can say is that the matter is under consideration in court and negotiations are also ongoing. We will sit again on [Apr 13].”

The tax commissioner, Md Meftah Uddin Khan, declined to say anything about the meeting and advised journalists to ‘contact’ with Yunus Centre, the Nobel laureate’s office, over the matter.

After the letter was sent, the commissioner had told bdnews24.com, “It’s nothing special. He’s an honoured taxpayer. He has some dues.

“He has moved the court over this. But we want to resolve it through discussions. That’s why he has been invited.”

Yunus had filed a reference case over the matter at the High Court on Mar 5.

Khan said, “He appealed to the commissionerate at first for the tax to be relaxed, but the commissionerate disagreed. He then filed a case at the tribunal.

“But it also imposed a tax on him. We found out that he paid parts of the tax and them moved the High Court.”

“If the court rules in his favour, we will definitely give back the money he has paid.”

Yunus shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Grameen Bank in 2006.

File Photo

But the microcredit lender faced much criticism both at home and abroad after a Norwegian TV documentary broadcast in 2010 accused him of misusing donor funds.

It had uncovered documents revealing nearly $100 million in donor funds to Grameen Bank were transferred out of the bank to a private corporation, Grameen Kalyan, which was also set up by Yunus.

The Bangladesh Bank in March 2011 ordered Yunus’ removal as the Grameen Bank managing director, saying that his reappointment was not approved by it and that he had been managing director illegally since 1999.

He went to court to fight the central bank’s order, but lost the legal battle. Two months later, he stepped down from the office.

Tax commissioner Khan said the unpaid tax over which Yunus had been called was not his income tax. It was his ‘gift tax’. If an individual gives someone a gift with the money they have after paying tax on their income, they need to pay tax on the gift.

One of the officials told bdnews24.com that the tax was imposed on the money Yunus had received as award or honorarium at home or abroad over the years.

The NBR for the past three years has been urging the Nobel laureate to pay the taxes.