The dismissal (afskedigelse) of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen microfinance bank he founded was legal, Bangladesh’s High Court has ruled according to BBC online Tuesday.
He was challenging his dismissal after the central bank sacked him. It argued that Prof Yunus was past his retirement age and was improperly appointed.
He said the attempt to remove him from the bank was politically motivated.
Grameen Bank has pioneered micro-lending to the poor by giving small loans to millions of borrowers.
In its ruling on Tuesday the court said that Prof Yunus was wrongly reappointed managing director of Grameen Bank in 1999 as that was a decision that should have been taken by the central bank.
It also supported the central bank’s argument that Prof Yunus had violated the country’s retirement laws by staying on as Grameen’s head long past the mandatory retirement age of 60. Prof Yunus is 70.
The ruling is a setback for Prof Yunus, even though he has the right of appeal to the Supreme Court, notes BBC.
