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Published : 18 May 2026, 07:05 PM
The High Court (HC) has issued a rule asking why the microcredit interest rates charged by Grameen Bank should not be rationalised and aligned with those of other commercial banks in the country.
Following a primary hearing on a writ petition filed in the public interest, the bench of Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury and Justice Md Ziaul Haque passed the order on Monday.
Grameen Bank's founder and former managing director Muhammad Yunus has been named as one of the respondents.
They have been directed to reply to the rule within four weeks.
The court also questioned why borrowers should not be exempted from further payments once their total repayments reach three times the principal loan amount -- a standard practice across regular commercial banks in the country.
The petitioner also named three other respondents in the case: the governor of Bangladesh Bank, the finance secretary, and the managing director of Grameen Bank.
The court, however, did not pass any interim orders as the petitioners chose not to press for one during the hearing.
Supreme Court lawyers Masood R Sobhan and Fatema Chowdhury argued the petition.
Speaking to bdnews24.com, Fatema said: "The petition was filed last week, and the court passed the order today after hearing objections from the state."
"Under existing commercial banking rules, if someone borrows Tk 100 and pays back Tk 300, they are exempted from the debt. But Grameen Bank has no such legal provision. Consequently, landless borrowers continue paying interest year after year," she explained.
The rule seeks to extend this commercial bank exemption facility to Grameen Bank clients, she said.
Beyond the core dispute over interest rates, the writ petition detailed an array of specific allegations against Yunus, the chief advisor of the immediate past interim government, encompassing abuse of power, tax evasion, and administrative overreach during and after his formal tenure.
The petition alleged that while the Grameen Bank Ordinance caps the managing director's age at 60, Yunus used his influence over the then finance minister M Saifur Rahman to secure an unlawful five-year extension.
He later claimed another term beyond the age of 65, which the finance ministry rejected.
Although he lost the subsequent legal battles in the HC and SC, the petition claimed he continues to dictate bank policies in the capacity of a “consultant”.
The petition also brought forward allegations regarding the financial management of the bank's profits.
It stated that Yunus established a trust fund using Grameen Bank's massive earnings and appointed close relatives as trustees.
Yunus initially refused to pay income tax on those funds, though authorities eventually compelled collection, the petition added.
The petition raised a major financial grievance involving the National Revenue Board (NBR).
It claimed that Grameen Bank's accumulated income tax dues worth Tk 6.77 billion were abruptly and completely exempted by the NBR in 2025 without any valid legal basis.
The petitioner termed this a blatant abuse of office for financial gain during his tenure as chief advisor of the interim government.
The petition also touched upon labour issues, asserting that a large number of Grameen Bank employees were deprived of their lawful dues until a labour court ruled in favour of the employees' union, forcing the bank to clear the outstanding liabilities.
The petitioner noted that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina had publicly labelled Yunus a "bloodsucker" due to the financial destitution faced by microcredit borrowers under high interest rates.
The petition added that Yunus had been convicted by a criminal court following due legal process.
After securing bail, he left for Paris and returned to Bangladesh on Aug 8, 2025, to assume leadership of the interim government following the ouster of the Hasina administration during the student-led Uprising on Aug 5.
