Grameen Bank Founder Muhammad Yunus Saturday warned that anyone involved in making unwarranted changes to the founding principles of the bank would not be spared from its consequences.
“We have founded the Grameen Bank with the ownership of the poor and operate it by them. We will continue to protest if deviations are made from the basic principles,” Yunus told journalists after the launching of the fifth Social Business Day in the capital.
“Any deviation in the founding principles will destroy the bank and nobody [found involved in the process of deviation] will be spared,” he said.
Yunus hoped that the integrity of the bank would be maintained.
At the function, Yunus introduced the nine women directors of the Grameen Bank as “brave and most courageous women” and said, “They are trying to protect their bank. They are also trying to maintain integrity of the bank”.
Grameen Bank Director Tahsina Khatun hoped that goodwill of the government will prevail and unwanted interference in the bank will be stopped.
She said the borrowers have been holding 75% share of the bank and the government owns only 25 per cent.
‘But there is a move to 'governmentalise' [not nationalisation] the bank by changing the laws while keeping us in the dark,” Tahsina alleged.
“There is a move to change rules keeping us in dark to elect the directors,” she said adding: “These changes will induce politics, grouping and conflict within the bank, which will be detrimental for the institution.”
