Bangladesh court orders Nobel laureate to pay over US$1m in taxes

A High Court division bench in Bangladesh has ordered Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to pay 120 million taka (RM5.1 million) to the country's National Board of Revenue (NBR).

This was in regard to cases filed in connection with evading taxes from 2011 to 2013, reported Xinhua.

The High Court division bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir passed the order Wednesday.

The court also dismissed three separate petitions filed by the Nobel laureate challenging the tax liability imposed by the NBR on the money he had gifted to his three charitable trusts.

The court said Yunus's tax evasion charges have been proved in three cases.

Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their work to "create economic and social development from below."

In 2011, he was relieved from his position as Grameen Bank's managing director.

- Bernama-Xinhua