Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said receiving the Nobel prize does not make the laureate an angel.
The foreign minister was responding to a question on Thursday about a statement by some foreign dignitaries who had urged the government to halt cases against Dr Muhammad Yunus.
He also said he knew some Nobel laureates who had been punished for their involvement in criminal activities and wrongdoing.
Momen said since these cases were pending in court, the government had nothing to do with it.
The foreign minister also pointed out that the cases against Dr Yunus had been filed by employees of his organizations, not by the government.
He said the government believed in the freedom of the judiciary, which was why it never interfered in the affairs of the court.
The minister also noted that the statement by the foreign dignitaries demanding suspension of the legal proceedings was totally illogical as the demand was totally contradictory to the rule of law. “It is a case filed in the labour court.”
In this connection, he mentioned that a number of Nobel laureates faced imprisonment for wrongdoings, and he knew a Nobel laureate who had been stripped of his professorship at MIT in the US for his involvement in illegal activities.
“And there is a person who despite receiving the Noble prize twice committed suicide out of frustration and sorrow,” the minister added.
“Dr Muhammad Yunus is a respected person of our country… he should not worry about the cases filed against him if he is innocent and did not do anything wrong” he noted. "If he is honest and brave, he should face it."
After the statement from eminent personalities from around the world, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina publicly called upon them to send experts or lawyers to check the case, since the government had nothing to do with the judiciary.
Replying to a question, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, however, said the government had not received any response in this regard from them.
