Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the people who issued statement requesting a halt to judicial proceedings against Professor Muhammad Yunus, they should send their own experts for him who will peruse evidence and investigate in their own way to know whether any offence has been committed by Dr Yunus or not.
The prime minister further said, “Have these people ever tried to know how a government service holder can invest billion dollars in foreign countries? Have they ever questioned from where Dr Yunus got this money? How Dr Yunus earned this money?
“If Dr Yunus is confident then why is he begging statements?”, asked the prime minister.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina stated that our judiciary is independent, and it will conduct the trial in this case disregarding the statements issued for Dr Yunus.
“Why the courts should be influenced? The courts will ensure justice”, she added.
The prime minister stressed that Awami League has always worked for the labourers. “The labourers of this country are always our priority. Even during coronavirus pandemic, we ensured labourers get their payment through their mobile phones. Courts should not be afraid. Labourers should get what they deserve. No partial payment to labourer should be allowed”, she added.
The prime minister asked what justice in depriving labourers is. She wondered how the international community could support Dr Yunus on this matter where labourers would be deprived.
The prime minister further stated that Bangladesh is party to every protocol and convention of International Labour Organization (ILO). Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed all the protocols of ILO right after the independence of Bangladesh and the rest was signed by the prime minister after she had come to power.
The prime minister made these remarks while addressing a press conference at her official residence Ganabhaban on the outcome of her recent visit to South Africa and her participation in the 15th BRICS Summit there in response to the questions of a journalist asking about her opinion on Dr Yunus issue as 150 Nobel laureates and world leaders in different sectors have issued open letters to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressing their concern over the case against Dr Muhammad Yunus on allegations of breaching the labour law and corruption.
US-based public relations (PR) agency Cision PR Newswire published the letter on their website on Monday. The signatories include 14 Nobel peace prize winners, including Barack Obama, Shirin Ebadi, Nadia Murad, Tawakkol Karman and Maria Ressa; four Nobel laureates in literature – JM Coetzee, Herta Muller, Orhan Pamuk and Wole Soyinka; seven Nobel laureates in economics, including Joseph E Stiglitz, 28 Nobel laureates in Chemistry, 29 Nobel medicine prize winners and 22 Nobel laureates in physics.