Grameen Kalyan to Appeal Tk666 Crore Tax Verdict; MD Says Yunus Left Chairmanship in 2024
Moin further said Yunus resigned as chairman of Grameen Kalyan’s board and as chairman of the Grameen Group when he assumed the role of Chief Adviser in August 2024.
In a Nutshell:
- The High Court on 10 September 2026 dismissed two writ petitions filed by Grameen Kalyan against the National Board of Revenue’s reassessed tax demand, leaving the organisation facing a claim of about Tk666 crore. Grameen Kalyan says it will challenge the decision in the Appellate Division.
- The dispute concerns Grameen Kalyan’s income-tax assessments for several past tax years. It is a case against the organisation, not a personal tax case against Muhammad Yunus.
- Grameen Kalyan has been contesting the NBR assessment in the High Court since 2017.
- On 4 August 2024, the High Court initially took up the matter, but the proceedings stalled after an ethical conflict emerged when a judge realized he had dealt with the dispute earlier in his career as a junior advocate.
- Professor Muhammad Yunus became Chief Adviser on 8 August 2024, stepping down from his roles at Grameen Kalyan and the Grameen Group upon taking office.
- On 29 August 2024, the earlier order was formally recalled and sent to the Chief Justice for reassignment because the assigned judge felt embarrassed to deliver a judgment on a case he had previously worked on.
- The case was later placed before a newly designated High Court bench, which reheard the matter and rejected Grameen Kalyan’s writ petitions in today’s ruling.
Context
The case is essentially a prolonged dispute over Grameen Kalyan’s tax liability. The recall of the August 2024 order did not mean that the tax demand was cancelled or that the case was resolved in the organisation’s favour. Instead, it was a procedural step taken after it emerged that a judge on the bench had earlier been involved in the case during his junior practice, prompting him to recuse himself. The timeline is significant because the judicial process was already underway before Muhammad Yunus took office as Chief Adviser. The matter was before the court in early August 2024, while Yunus assumed office on 8 August. The case was formally recalled on 29 August because of the judge’s prior connection with the matter, and it was subsequently reassigned to a fresh bench by the Chief Justice. The new bench’s decision on 10 September 2026 shows that the dispute continued through the normal judicial process. The High Court has now ruled in favour of the NBR, but the matter will move to the Appellate Division as Grameen Kalyan exercises its right to appeal.
Moin’s Response
Shedding light on this matter, A K M Moinuddin Chowdhury, Managing Director of Grameen Kalyan, said the organisation would challenge the latest High Court verdict before the Appellate Division. He said the ruling has raised the issue of payment, but stressed that the legal process is not over yet. “With the petition being dismissed, the question of paying the amount claimed by the government naturally arises. However, this does not mean the matter concludes right here, or that we must disburse the funds immediately. We still have further legal remedies and procedures available to us.” Moin said Grameen Kalyan would first file a Civil Miscellaneous Petition before the Appellate Division. If that is unsuccessful, the organisation would seek leave to appeal. “We will certainly exercise every available legal right. If we ultimately exhaust all legal options and lose before the Appellate Division, we will comply with the law and pay the requisite amount. We have never stated that we would not pay; we have simply been pursuing our rightful legal battle.” Addressing questions over the earlier pause in the 2024 High Court proceedings, Moin said the matter had remained pending due to the assigned judge's prior connection to the dispute—not because of any political consideration. “The verdict had not been delivered earlier because the honorable judge presiding over the assigned High Court bench had previously dealt with this matter during his earlier career as a junior advocate. He felt embarrassed to deliver a ruling on it, so the verdict was not delivered and it remained pending until the Chief Justice assigned a new bench.” He also dismissed claims that the tax dispute involved Yunus’s personal money, describing such assertions as an attempt to defame him. “The most malicious misinformation was propagated by certain vested quarters who targeted Sir to defame him, repeatedly claiming that this was ‘Sir’s personal money.’ The regular course of judicial proceedings before the High Court has demonstrated that those claims were entirely baseless and untrue.” Moin further said Yunus resigned as chairman of Grameen Kalyan’s board and as chairman of the Grameen Group when he assumed the role of Chief Adviser in August 2024.