DHAKA
\nBangladeshi Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus was indicted in a corruption case on Wednesday, the latest charges to proceed against the respected economist that supporters say are politically motivated.
\nYunus, 83, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his pioneering microfinance bank but has earned the enmity of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has accused him of \u201csucking blood\u201d from the poor.
\nWednesday\u2019s indictment, brought by the national anti-corruption agency, accuses Yunus and 13 others of embezzling $2.1 million (252 million Bangladeshi taka) from Grameen Telecom, one of several firms he founded.
\nYunus\u2019s lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun told AFP that the indictment was the most serious Yunus had faced so far.
\n\u201cIf found guilty, Yunus could face up to a life term in prison,\u201d Mamun told AFP.
\nYunus told reporters after the hearing that he was innocent and had devoted his life \u201cto serve the people, not to embezzle money\u201d.
\nHe said that being forced to spend the hearing sitting inside one of the cages recently introduced into Bangladeshi courtrooms to hold defendants had been \u201chumiliating\u201d.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t know why we have to go through this harassment,\u201d he said.
\nGrameen Telecom, created to offer cheap mobile phone services in rural areas, is one of Bangladesh\u2019s richest companies.
\nIt owns a 34 percent stake in the country\u2019s largest mobile phone network, worth billions of dollars.
\nYunus and three colleagues from Grameen Telecom were sentenced to six months in jail in January after they were found guilty of violating labour laws.
\nAll four denied the charges, which supporters and rights groups denounced as politically motivated, and have been bailed pending appeal.
\nYunus was ousted from the telco\u2019s board a month later and employers locked out of its office after the government-installed chairman of its parent company appointed new directors.
\nYunus is facing more than 100 other charges over labour law violations and alleged graft.
\n\u201cThose cases are made on flimsy grounds,\u201d he told AFP in an interview in the capital Dhaka in February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DHAKA Bangladeshi Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus was indicted in a corruption case on Wednesday, the latest charges to proceed against the respected economist that supporters say are politically motivated. Yunus, 83, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his pioneering microfinance bank but has earned the enmity of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-412766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n