‘I’ve reached worst point of my cursed life’

Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday said he was at the worst point of his cursed life because of the will of the gods and goddesses.

“It’s been a long time since I was thrown out of Grameen Bank. A probe body has been formed to investigate me. There is no respite, one thing is coming after another,” he told reporters after appearing in court for a hearing in a case filed over misappropriation of Tk 25.22 crore of Grameen Telecom Workers’ profit participation fund.

Prof Yunus said, “I have nothing to do here. The gods and goddesses determine who should be cursed … We have to appease them through a lot of hard work.”

He did not say whom he meant by gods and goddesses.

Earlier, Judge Syed Arafat Hossain of the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka set June 12 for issuing an order on charge framing against Prof Yunus and 13 others, said Belal Hossain, bench assistant of the court.

Before the charge-framing hearing yesterday, Prof Yunus, following some of his colleagues, entered the dock, an iron cage-like enclosure for the accused inside the courtroom.

He stayed there for a while and came out and sat on a bench. He was in the courtroom for the entire hearing, which lasted over three hours.

“For the first time, I had to stand in an iron-cage court dock … I’ll never forget this … It is a part of this cursed life,” said Prof Yunus.

“Two Nobel prizes — one in my name and another in the name of Grameen Bank — were given. Both have equal dignity. It was not awarded jointly, rather both are independent [awards]. There is no precedence in world history of one Nobel laureate filing a case against another … It’s written in our destiny, it’s a part of the curse we have been carrying,” he said.

” … There might be complaints, but the complaint they filed using harsh language to attack me is baseless … I have been accused of misappropriating the money which I have paid,” he said.

“All the allegations against me and my colleagues have left a deep scar in my heart. It hurts because my family has been attacked. Our lawyer will say why we have to bear this curse,” Prof Yunus said.

“As a citizen of the country, I want to ask why false cases are filed against anyone. My colleagues have dedicated their lives for the betterment of the humanity, why should they be harassed? Why should they enter the iron cage [court dock]?” he added.

Yesterday, the 14 accused, including Prof Yunus, also filed petitions with the court seeking discharge.

During yesterday’s hearing, ACC Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kazol argued for framing charges against the accused, while defence lawyers, including Abdullah-Al-Mamun and Mohammad Shaheenoor Islam, asked the court to discharge the accused.

On April 2, the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court of Dhaka transferred the case to the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka after accepting the charges pressed against the 14.

On May 2, the special judge’s court granted them bail.

On February 1, Investigation Officer Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, a deputy director at the ACC, placed the charge sheet before the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court.

The 13 other accused include Grameen Telecom Managing Director Nazmul Islam, directors Ashraful Hassan, Naznin Sultana, Parvin Mahmud, M Shahjahan, and Nurjahan Begum.

On May 30 last year, Gulshan filed the case with the ACC’s integrated district office in Dhaka.