Hilary Pressured Bangladesh PM To Rehire Donor Yunus

(Three news articles from ASIA SENTINEL, DAILY SATR, & BREITBART NEWS in 2017.)

Hilary Clinton and her big donor Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

Fired Grameen banker and the 2006 Nobel-Peace-Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus used Clinton influence to stop the Padma River Bridge funding from the World Bank after Bangladehi Government rejected Hilary Clinton’s demand to reinstate Yunus as the Managing Director at Grameen Bank, Bangladesh PM Hasina charges.

In 2012, the World Bank pulled out of its US$1.2 billion commitment to fund Bangladesh’s biggest infrastructure project, a 6.1 km. multimodal bridge over the Padma River, because of clear evidence of high-level corruption. But when Bank officials went to the government, they were ignored.

Today, however, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is charging that World Bank officials acting at the behest of the family of former US President Bill Clinton attempted to blackmail her into allowing former Grameen Bank President Muhammad Yunus to return to the bank, or the World Bank’s portion of the funding for the US$3 billion Padma Bridge, the country’s biggest, would be turned off.

The World Bank decision to pull out of the project, which is now about 25 percent completed, forced Bangladesh to find other funding sources. The bank said it had found a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials, the Canada-based SNC-Lavalin executives, and private individuals. “The World Bank cannot, should not, and will not turn a blind eye to evidence of corruption,” the bank said when it cancelled the loan.

We have both an ethical obligation and a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders and IDA donor countries.  It is our responsibility to make sure IDA resources are used for their intended purposes and that we only finance a project when we have adequate assurances that we can do so in a clean and transparent way.  In light of the inadequate response by the Government of Bangladesh, the World Bank has decided to cancel its $1.2 billion IDA credit in support of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project, effective immediately.

Sheikh Hasina had another reasons.  “Some high officials from the USA told me that funding would be stopped if a particular person is not there in the post,” Hasina told a crowd at Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka on Jan. 16, without mentioning either Yunus, who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace, or Grameen. But her meaning was clear.

The veteran politician, who leads the Awami League, asserted that Yunus had influenced the World Bank management to cancel financial support for the 6.1 km bridge, which is being built with funds from the Asian Development Bank (US$615 million), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (US$415 million) and the Islamic Development Bank (US$140 million).

“Even I was directly threatened,” Hasina said, charging that Yunus had violated Bangladeshi banking laws by staying on for 10 years past state-mandated retirement despite the fact that such rules apply only to government banks. “If anyone failed to win in the court that is not our responsibility…Could the construction of the Padma bridge be stopped for that?”

The bridge is perhaps the country’s most ambitious infrastructure undertaking, designed to handle both car and train traffic as well as providing a conduit for communications and other purposes across a river that is a major tributary over the Ganges. The country’s first major fixed river crossing, it also includes more than 15 km. of approach structures as well.

Hasina has been on a crusade against Yunis for a decade out of jealousy, her detractors say, because she believed she should have won the 2006 Nobel Prize for her work in stopping an internecine war among Bangladesh’s hill tribes instead of Yunus.

For whatever reason, Yunus was compelled to resign as the managing director of Grameen Bank in March 2011 on the ground that the banker to the poor, who gained fame for his development of microfinance, which has enabled millions of poor to move out of poverty, had crossed the official age limit (60 years). 

Although Yunus appealed to the country’s top court, he was turned down.  Later, Hasina moved against the bank itself, rewriting the law to add government-appointed directors to control it. “There was huge pressure on my government to reinstate him as the managing director. But I did not bow down,” she asserted.

Although it was an oblique reference, the Yunus Center immediately hit back at the prime minister, alleging that she is continuing a smear campaign against him. The center, which functions as Yunus’s secretariat, issued a statement saying “We are saddened and frustrated by the baseless remarks made by the Honorable Prime Minister,” adding that the charge that Yunus had encouraged the World Bank to cancel the loan was baseless.

“Prof. Yunus has dedicated his whole life to building various institutions for the welfare of the people of Bangladesh and would never do anything against the interest of the people of Bangladesh. Such an unfair and unfounded smear campaign to discredit one of the most respected and celebrated Bangladeshis and his work is unfortunate,” the statement said.

Yunus, the center said, had long ago denied he had anything to do with the Padma Bridge matter.  “It is shocking that the Honorable PM keeps repeating the allegation without ever presenting any proof in support.”

The Grameen Bank is 97 percent owned by the Bangladeshi women who became shareholders after taking out loans. The remainder is held by the government. The bank provides small loans without collateral. Many socio-political analysts argue that the bank’s elevated fame of the unique bank annoyed Hasina as she was often introduced the premier of the land of Muhammad Yunus. She maintained her suspicion that Yunus received the Nobel Prize because of the Clinton family’s lobbying the Nobel committee.

The Prime Minister directed the same allegation against Yunus in the Jatiya Sansad, the National Parliament, while responding to a parliamentarian’s query, saying “domestic evil forces” were running negative propaganda against the poverty-stricken country, adding that “there were unprecedented efforts to attach the stigma of corruption to her government,” with her and her family the prime target.

Later, in a cabinet meeting, Hasina charged Yunus with conspiring against her government.  After the local media reported the premier’s comment, the Yunus Center issued another formal protest against her remark that the banker was waiting for Hillary Clinton to become the next US President to create more troubles to her government.

“The theory (that Yunus is plotting to bring down the government of Bangladesh when she becomes the US President) is stretching the imagination to the limit. Implicating a front-running Presidential contender of a friendly country with such a serious accusation does not promise our country a good start with the new President if she is elected,” the statement said.

“No doubt, Prof Yunus is close to the Clinton family, even before Bill Clinton became the US President. US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who visited Dhaka as the US Secretary of State, also publicly asked PM Hasina to resolve the conflict with Prof Yunus,” said Hasanur Rahman, a Dhaka based political analyst.

“But because of that proximity, one should not blame Prof Yunus as a conspirator to a national project engaging the American lady. “I believe, both Prof Yunus and  Ms Clinton must have maintained the basic minimum honesty in their interaction and actions.”

Hilary Clinton & Obama pressured World Bank to suspend Padma Bridge Fund.

Because PM Hasina would not reinstate their friend and donor Yunus as the MD of Grameen Bank.

Bangladesh PM Hasina: Hilary ‘Personally Pressured’ Her For Yunus

A foreign government has revealed another one of the Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play schemes. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that Hillary Clinton “personally pressured” her to help a Clinton Foundation donor during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state in 2011, despite it being against ethics laws, Circa reported.

Hasina’s press secretary told Circa that Clinton placed a phone call to her office in March 2011 insisting that 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammed Yunus get his job back as chairman of Grameen Bank, a famous microcredit bank in the country.

Yunus is chairman of the bank’s nonprofit Grameen America, which donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative, Circa reported. Yunus also chairs Grameen Research, which donated an estimated $25,000 and $50,000 to CGI.

“Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March 2011 insisting her not to remove Dr. Muhammad Yunus from the post of Managing Director of Grameen Bank,” Deputy Press Secretary Md Nazrul Islam said.

Islam added that the prime minister told Clinton that the company’s rules and regulations require the chairperson of the bank to be no older than 60, even though Yunus was not removed from his position until he was 70 and he argued with the prime minister over his removal.

The Bangladesh government said that Grameen Bank is a “statutory body of the government” that must follow banking laws and that they told Clinton Yunus collected an illegal salary over the past ten years. Yunus claims he was removed from his position due to “internal politics” and not because of any wrongdoing.

Grameen Bank was investigated in 2012 by the Bangladesh government for mismanagement of finances. Yunus told the Independent in 2013 that he feared his ouster would cause the bank to be under too much government control and detract from the bank’s original mission. “It will be a disaster,” Yunus said. “Everybody in Bangladesh knows that if any business is controlled by the government, it goes down. Now why do they want to do that for the bank?”

The Clinton Foundation has been plagued by many allegations of corruption for its pay-to-play schemes. Breitbart News Editor-at-Large and Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer first reported these allegations, including the time when senior Clinton Foundation staffers coordinated with State Department officials during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 to give special treatment to “friends of Bill Clinton.”

Clinton Cash and the New York Times also exposed how then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved a deal with the Russian government that would give them of 20 percent of U.S. uranium while the Clinton Foundation received $145 million in donations from people connected to the sale.

The foundation announced in January that it would lay off 22 staffers as a result of the discontinuation of CGI.

Burmese Buddhist policemen murdered and mutilated by Rohingya terrorists.

Dr Yunus & 22 Others Write A B.S. Letter To UN For Rohingyas

Twenty-three Nobel laureates and global leaders have urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) members to urgently put the Rohingya issue on its agenda and called upon the UN secretary-general to visit Myanmar as a priority.

"If the current Secretary-General is able to do so, we would urge him to go; if not, we encourage the new Secretary-General to make it one of his first tasks after he takes office in January," reads an open letter sent to the president of the UNSC and to all its member states.

The dignitaries, who have made the joint plea for the Rohingyas, one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, include Dr Muhammad Yunus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Malala Yousafzai, Shirin Ebadi and Arianna Huffington.

Thirteen Nobel laureates and 10 business people, philanthropists, activists and politicians of global repute are among the signatories, who expressed concern that Rohingya persecution in Myanmar bears the hallmarks of genocides and past tragedies like the ones in - Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, and Kosovo.

They urged the United Nations to do everything possible to encourage the Myanmar government to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid so that people receive emergency assistance.

"Access for journalists and human rights monitors should also be permitted, and an independent, international inquiry to establish the truth about the current situation should be established," the letter said. The plea came at a time when "a human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is unfolding in Myanmar", the letter noted.

"Over the past two months, a military offensive by the Myanmar Army in Rakhine State has led to the killing of hundreds of Rohingya people. Over 30,000 people have been displaced," they observed. "Houses have been burned, women raped, many civilians arbitrarily arrested, and children killed. Crucially, access for humanitarian aid organisations has been almost completely denied, creating an appalling humanitarian crisis in an area already extremely poor."

Their open letter described, "Thousands [of Rohingyas] have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, only to be sent back. Some international experts have warned of the potential for genocide. It has all the hallmarks of recent past tragedies - Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, Kosovo."

They expressed frustration at Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's non-initiative in ensuring rights of the Rohingya people. The open letter noted, "Despite repeated appeals to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi we are frustrated that she has not taken any initiative to ensure full and equal citizenship rights of the Rohingyas. Daw Suu Kyi is the leader and is the one with the primary responsibility to lead, and lead with courage, humanity and compassion."

"It is time for the international community as a whole to speak out much more strongly. After Rwanda, world leaders said, “never again”. If we fail to take action, people may starve to death if they are not killed with bullets, and we may end up being the passive observers of crimes against humanity which will lead us once again to wring our hands belatedly and say “never again” all over again."

Signatories are as follows;

Nobel Laureates in Peace - Professor Muhammad Yunus (2006  Nobel Peace Laureate), José Ramos-Horta (1996), Máiread Maguire (1976), Betty Williams (1976), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984), Oscar Arias (1987), Jody Williams (1997), Shirin Ebadi (2003), Tawakkol Karman (2011), Leymah Gbowee (2011), and Malala Yousafzai (2014) and two Nobel Laureates in Medicine, Sir Richard J. Roberts (1993) and Elizabeth Blackburn (2009).

Ex-Italian prime minister and foreign minister, Romano Prodi and Emma Bonino respectively; The Huffington Post founder and editor, Arianna Huffington; business leaders and philanthropists, Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz; business leader, Paul Polman; entrepreneur and philanthropist, Mo Ibrahim; SDG advocate and film director, Richard Curtis; SDG advocate and Fellow of the Voice of Libyan Women, Alaa Murabit; and human rights activist Kerry Kennedy.

World Bank Suspends Padma Bridge Fund

This article focus on Padma Bridge Fund, here analysis why World Bank Suspends Padma Bridge Fund. Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail bridge through the Padma River to become constructed in Bangladesh.

When completed will probably be the largest bridge in Bangladesh as well as the first fixed river crossing for road traffic. It will connect linking the south-west from the country, to northern along with eastern regions.

Implementation from the Padma multipurpose bridge project is now uncertain as the consortium from the four lending agencies led with the World Bank has hanging a fund of $1.345b for the $2.9b project until an allegation of corruption inside bidding process for appointment of your construction supervision consultant is settled.

Bangladeshi Govt. was forced to build the Padma Bridge with their own resources
because of Yunus-Clinton conspiracy.

Canada court finds no proof of Padma Bridge Bribery

A court in Canada on Friday, February 10, 2017, acquits three former top executives of SNC-Lavalin in an international bribery case linked to Padma bridge construction in Bangladesh.  Three former top executives of SNC-Lavalin have been acquitted in an international bribery case linked to Padma bridge construction in Bangladesh.

An Ontario Superior Court justice dismissed the case yesterday at the prosecution's request, reports CBC News. Kevin Wallace, Ramesh Shah, and Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan had pleaded not guilty. The case related to alleged bribery of foreign officials about the Padma bridge construction contract in Bangladesh.

Last month, Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer ruled that wiretap evidence had to be excluded. As a result, the prosecution on Friday elected to call no evidence and the accused were acquitted, a prosecution spokeswoman said.

Wallace, a former vice-president, was initially arrested and charged in 2013. Three former top executives of SNC-Lavalin were acquitted by a court in Canada on Friday, February 10, 2017 in an international bribery case linked to Padma bridge construction in Bangladesh.  

In June 2012, the World Bank cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the Padma bridge project, saying it had proof of a "corruption conspiracy" involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and some individuals.

On December 17 of the year, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a graft conspiracy case with Banani Police Station in Dhaka against Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ex-Bridges Division secretary; Kazi Mohammad Ferdous, the then superintendent engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, and Reaz Ahmed Zaber, the then executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department.

The accused also include former local agent of SNC-Lavalin Mohammad Mostofa and its ex-officials Mohammad Ismail, Ramesh Shah and Kevin Wales. The WB had accused SNC-Lavalin of conspiring to bribe ex-communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and several officials and individuals of Bangladesh to get the consultancy job of the project.

The ACC in its probe report submitted to the court in September 2014 cleared all the accused in the case of the conspiracy charges, saying none had been found guilty.

Obama loves him so much that Dr. Yunus was

given a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

ACC was under WB pressure to file Padma graft case

Bangladesh’s ACC filed the Padma bridge graft case in 2012 in the face of the pressure of the World Bank, the ACC’s outgoing Chairman M Bodiuzzaman says.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Padma bridge graft case in 2012 without any relevant document and evidence because of pressure from the World Bank, its outgoing Chairman M Bodiuzzaman yesterday said. He made the comment at his farewell programme at the ACC office in the capital's Segunbagicha.

In June 2012, the WB (allegedly under pressure from the Obama-Clinton adminiostration) cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the Padma bridge project, saying it had proof of a "corruption conspiracy" involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and some individuals.

On December 17 of the year, the ACC filed the graft conspiracy case with Banani Police Station against Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ex-Bridges Division secretary; Kazi Mohammad Ferdous, the then superintendent engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, and Reaz Ahmed Zaber, the then executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department.

The accused also include former local agent of SNC Lavalin Mohammad Mostofa and its ex-officials Mohammad Ismail, Ramesh Shah and Kevin Wales. The WB had accused SNC Lavalin of conspiring to bribe ex-communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and several officials and individuals of Bangladesh to get the consultancy job of the project.

The ACC in its probe report submitted to the court in September 2014 cleared all the accused in the case of the conspiracy charges, saying none had been found guilty. It also exonerated Abul Hossain and ex-state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury from the allegation of involvement in the corruption conspiracy.

ACC Chairman Bodiuzzaman (pictured below), yesterday, also said the anti-graft body had filed the case so that the government could get the fund. Later, the investigation proved that the allegations of corruption conspiracy were false, he added.