The government will form a commission to look into the activities of 54 organisations associated with Grameen Bank, the finance minister has said.
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said this while exchanging views on the upcoming budget for 2012-2013 fiscal with Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) Sunday.
Of the 54 organisations associated with the Nobel Peace laureate's micro-finance institution, only four to five are authorised by the board of directors of the bank, Muhith said adding that the rest are directly linked with Muhammad Yunus.
"These organisations are not working on micro-credit in Bangladesh's rural areas. They are only operating abroad," he said.
"I am a founder member of Grameen Bank, too. The bank was built to work on micro-credit in the country's rural areas," he added.
An inquiry by top professionals had revealed that Grameen Bank over-stepped its legal authority to divert fund to another arm of the Grameen family in 1996.
The five-member fact-finding committee, formed in January last year, said a 'credit account' was created in Grameen Kalyan by transferring the fund in the organisation to make the fund interest-bearing.
The investigation report said, "It seems that the dispute regarding use/transfer of Norad aid funds for Grameen Bank has been settled. But the fund transfer to different organisations by Grameen Bank was beyond its authority (ultra vires)."
"Grameen Bank, from its revolving fund received from Norad and other donors, transferred Tk 3.47 billion (Tk 347.18 crore) to Grameen Kalyan."
The formation of the investigation panel followed controversy about the pioneering micro-finance institution, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Muhammad Yunus in 2006. Yunus was removed from the bank as its managing director later as the apex court declared valid a Bangladesh Bank claim that he was over-aged to continue.
Controversy about the bank began in Nov 2010 when the Norwegian state television NRK ran a documentary titled 'Caught in Micro Debt' that accused Yunus, the then managing director of the bank, of transferring funds to Grameen Kalyan breaching the agreement made with the fund's donor, Norwegian aid agency Norad.
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