Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is granted bail in a Bangladesh graft case

By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in Bangladesh has granted bail to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in a $2.3 million embezzlement case. Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, was sentenced to six months in prison in January on a separate charge of violating labor laws. He was granted bail in that case too and has appealed. The prosecutor said the embezzlement case involves a workers welfare fund of Grameen Telecom, which owns 34.2% of the country’s largest mobile phone company, Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom giant Telenor. Yunus has denied the charges. Last year, more than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates urged Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to suspend legal proceedings against Yunus.