Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, nicknamed “the banker to the poor” and recently condemned in a judgment denounced as political by his supporters, claimed Thursday that several of his companies had suffered a “takeover by force”.
Muhammad Yunus, 83, is known for lifting millions of people out of poverty through his pioneering microcredit bank.
But he fell out with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who accused him of “sucking the blood” of the poor.
At a press conference, he claimed that a group of "outsiders" came four days ago to a building housing several of his companies and took control "by force" of the offices, refusing access to staff.
“We have big problems.
It’s a big disaster,” he continued.
“They are trying to take over the management of companies by their own rules.”
Blocked access to its employees
According to Muhammad Yunus, the police refused to register a complaint: “They found that there was no problem” with the occupation of the premises.
Earlier Thursday, dozens of people, employees said, saying they were supporters of the ruling Awami League party, stood at the entrances to a building to deny staff access.
“They didn't allow us to enter the building,” Mainul Hasan, managing director of one of Muhammad Yunus' companies, told AFP.
Some of those who were able to enter the building told those present that there were new directors for several of the companies, employees reported.
Muhammad Yunus and three managers of Grameen Telecom - one of the companies he founded - were sentenced in early January to six months in prison for violating labor law by not having created a provident fund, a case which drew criticism from human rights defenders.
The four defendants, who appealed and remain free on bail, reject these accusations.
Ban Ki-moon and Barack Obama defend him
Muhammad Yunus faces more than a hundred other charges relating to alleged labor violations and allegations of corruption.
In August, 160 international personalities, including former American President Barack Obama and former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, published a joint open letter denouncing the “continuous legal harassment” of which the microcredit pioneer is the victim. .
The signatories, including more than a hundred Nobel laureates, declared that they feared for “his security and his freedom”.
Critics accuse Bangladesh's courts of blindly approving the decisions of Sheikh Hasina's government, which has been increasingly firm in its repression of the political opposition.
Elections boycotted by the opposition
Sheikh Hasina began a fifth term in January after elections boycotted by the opposition.
The popularity of the economist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, has made him for years a potential rival of the Prime Minister.
Faruq Faisel, of the human rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra, told AFP that he and his colleagues were "really shocked" by the latest developments regarding Muhammad Yunus.
“These incidents are just another example of the fact that the judiciary is not independent in Bangladesh,” he said.
“Here, the judicial system is controlled by the powerful.”