Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the government will form a commission to investigate the affairs of Grameen’s 54 social businesses run by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus.
The announcement came Sunday during an exchange with the Economic Reporters’ Forum on the upcoming budget for 2012-2013.
Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, has been dismissed from the post of managing director of the bank last March over a dispute on exceeding retirement age. He remains active in building social businesses in Bangladesh that take on the Grameen name but operate independently.
The Daily Star quoted Finance Minister Muhith saying that over 90 percent of Grameen Bank’s associated organizations and companies were running without approval by the bank’s board of directors, leading to a decision to establish a commission that would probe into its affairs and see how they could be regulated.
Yunus had previously expressed concern that the government is trying to take control of Grameen Bank and, because they are also named “Grameen”, its associated organizations – including the country’s largest telecom company Grameenphone. These organizations do not have any relation to microcredit and Yunus believes they should remain independent.