Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, the head of interim government in Bangladesh, has been acquitted in a labour law violation case, The Daily Star reported on Wednesday. A Dhaka tribunal delivered the verdict, acquitting Yunus and three top officials of Grameen Telecom. In January this year, a court sentenced Prof Yunus, then chairman of Grameen Telecom, and its three directors to six months imprisonment each for violating labour laws. The four were also fined Tk 30,000 each, in default of which they would have to serve 25 more days in prison.
The tribunal's verdict comes a day after Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed Yunus as the head of an interim government. Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and left Dhaka on Monday following massive protests that many say were infiltrated by radical outfit Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP.
Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his anti-poverty campaign through the Grameen Bank. He had been in a row with Hasina's government due to obscure reasons while authorities initiated a series of investigations against him after she came to power in 2008.
Bangladesh authorities launched a review of the statutory Grameen Bank's activities in 2011 and fired Yunus as its founding managing director on charges of violating the government retirement regulation.
The renowned economist was charged under dozens of cases. In January, Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail. Hasina reportedly became enraged when Yunus announced that he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government and Hasina was in prison.
Yunus, however, did not follow through on the plan but at that time he criticised Bangladeshi politicians alleging they were only interested in money.
Meanwhile, Yunus has asked the youth to be calm and get ready to build the country. "I congratulate the brave students who took the lead in making our 'Second Victory Day' possible and to the people for giving your total support to them. Let us make the best use of our new victory. Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes," the professor said in a statement issued by the Yunus Centre.