Yunus loses legal battle, has to pay TK12cr in taxes

Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus will have to pay Tk12.28 crore in taxes to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ruled on Sunday.

A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order, rejecting Professor Yunus' application seeking permission to file a leave to appeal against the High Court verdict that declared the tax imposed by the NBR as valid.

In a separate development, the High Court issued a ruling on Sunday, questioning the validity of a labour law violation case against Dr Yunus.

According to the petition by Dr Yunus, the NBR served three separate notices claiming Tk12.28 crore, Tk1.60 crore, and Tk1.50 crore in taxes against donations of Tk61.57 crore in FY12, Tk8.15 crore in FY13, and Tk7 crore in FY14, respectively, as per the Donation Tax Act.

Dr Yunus challenged the validity of the NBR notices with the tax appellate tribunal, saying it cannot claim tax against donations as per the law.

In 2014, his application was rejected. Then in 2015, he filed three income tax reference cases in the High Court.

On 31 May, the High Court ruled that the tax imposed by the NBR against the money he had donated to the three trusts established in his name considering his death and the welfare of the family members was valid.

Why labour law violation case won't be dismissed: HC

The High Court on Sunday asked the government why the case against Grameen Telecom chairman over violation of labour law will not be dismissed.

The High Court bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das issued the ruling after hearing a plea that challenged the charge framing order by Dhaka Labour Court-3.

The Department of Factories and Establishment, along with the inspector investigating the case and the judge of the court were asked to respond to the ruling within the next two weeks.

In September 2021, the Directorate of Factories and Institutions of Dhaka sued four people, including Dr Yunus, for violating labour laws.

Arifuzzaman, a labour inspector of the department, filed the case.

The other accused in the case are Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hasan, and directors Noor Jahan Begum and Shahjahan.  

According to the case documents, officials of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments visited Grameen Telecom and found that 101 workers were supposed to be made permanent but were not; and workers' funds and welfare funds were not constituted. Besides, 5% of the company's dividend was supposed to be given to the workers, but it was not given to them.

Based on these allegations, a case was filed against the persons under criminal law.