Asia: Politics pulls down the microfinance pioneer

The forced removal of Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus as head of the lender casts a shadow over an institution that has flourished in Bangladesh and spread its message around the world. Elliot Wilson reports.

MUHAMMAD YUNUS IS a broken man. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been hounded out of the microfinance institution (MFI) he founded in 1976 by a belligerent and vengeful Bangladeshi government

“They will find a way to create mud and then make it stick to me, even if it is all lies”

Muhammad Yunus

MUHAMMAD YUNUS IS a broken man. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been hounded out of the microfinance institution (MFI) he founded in 1976 by a belligerent and vengeful Bangladeshi government.

The 70-year-old now lives in perpetual fear, afraid for his life, for his family’s lives, and for the lives of his “second family”, the 25,000 people who work for Grameen Bank.

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