The Bangladesh Awami League termed Thursday’s court verdict convicting several members of Sheikh Hasina’s family in the Purbachal plot allocation case “false, fabricated, and politically motivated.”
The party announced countrywide demonstrations on Friday and nonstop protest programmes until November 30, while reiterating its threat to “foil” the national election scheduled for February 2026 if it is excluded through what it calls judicial harassment.
In a strongly-worded statement, the Awami League said the verdict was part of a broader conspiracy by the “illegal, usurping, killer-fascist Yunus clique” to defame Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s family and push the party out of electoral politics.
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“The entire nation is witnessing how state power has been captured illegally, and the country is plunged into chaos. There is no rule of law, no justice in courts. Today’s judiciary has become a subservient tool to protect the interests of the illegal regime,” the statement read.
The Awami League argued that family members of the Father of the Nation who do not own land in Dhaka are legally entitled to purchase RAJUK plots under existing rules, insisting there was no corruption in the transaction.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Bangabandhu’s grandson and a former adviser to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, had already rejected the allegations in August this year, stating that “every step—from application to allotment to payment—followed the letter of the law” and that the plots were purchased at official government rates, not allotted free.
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Based in the US, Sajeeb Wazed had thrown an open challenge to the authorities to prove that the family members named in the case own any other property in Dhaka, a challenge that has remained unanswered.
Speaking to BBC Bangla in a recent interview, Sajeeb Wazed went further, warning that if the Awami League is prevented from contesting the upcoming parliamentary election through continued verdicts in what he described as “false and fabricated cases,” the party will have “no option but to take to the streets and foil the election.”
“We will not allow a staged election that excludes the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina, and pro-liberation forces. It will be resisted at any cost,” he said.
The Awami League statement on Wednesday echoed the same stance: “A staged election excluding the pro-liberation forces, the Awami League, and Sheikh Hasina will not be allowed in Bangladesh. It will be resisted at any cost, Inshallah.”
The party has called for demonstrations, protest marches, and resistance programmes across all districts and upazilas on Friday, specifically against the Purbachal verdict.
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It has also declared that protests and agitation will continue without break until 30 November, combining demands for the resignation of West’s puppet Yunus with rejection of recent verdicts by the Jamaat-controlled International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) and the Purbachal cases.
Senior Awami League leaders urged “all patriotic citizens who believe in the spirit of the Liberation War” to join the programmes and make them a success.
Yunus’ Empire
Initially, Grameen Bank was a project under an institute of the Economics Department of Chittagong University. In 1983, the government established the bank by promulgating a military ordinance. Yunus used to work as the managing director at the Grameen Bank with a salary of Tk6,000.
He, however, earned a huge sum of money and property soon. Cases and investigation reports suggest that he transferred Grameen Bank funds to other institutions and companies by different means, which are deemed illegal and unethical. Yunus admits that he did so, in many cases, to evade tax.
Sheikh Hasina said she gave Yunus Tk400 crore for the Grameen Bank and gave a license for Grameen Phone after taking office in 1996. But he acted against her during the army-backed caretaker government in 2007-08. He suggested that Sheikh Hasina be kept in jail and left out of politics.
After Sheikh Hasina returned to power, investigations were launched against Yunus’ corruption and irregularities, especially for tax evasion and embezzlement of funds meant for the poor.
He was also holding the post of the managing director of Grameen Bank, defying the rules he once set for the bank. After the Bangladesh Bank removed him from the post, Yunus challenged the order in court but lost the legal battle.
During the same time, Yunus engaged with the Clinton family and requested that then-Secretary Hillary Clinton help him survive the legal complications.
In the following years, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed several corruption cases against Yunus. Meanwhile, Yunus’ aides continued to threaten Sheikh Hasina and her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, with consequences if the investigations against Yunus were not stopped.
Sheikh Hasina said that Yunus has investments worth $17 billion through his companies, including Grameen America, across the world. In France alone, he has a business of $2 billion and has shares with two or three banks there. She heard that Yunus bought a very expensive flat in Paris.
He has no shortage of wealth in Bangladesh. In the reports of three banks, he was the owner of Tk118 crore, she added.
She said that Yunus is using the courts and the ACC to bring false corruption allegations against her. He is doing these to hide his own misdeeds.
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Sheikh Hasina said: “We took 10 kathas of land in Purbachal. Is that a big crime that we are completely under the radar? None of our sons and daughters is left out… Joy, Putul, Bobby, Tulip, Rehana… Is having 10 kathas of land a crime? Why did we commit a crime? Don’t we have the right to acquire 10 kathas of land? We have given all our resources to the people. Don’t our sons and daughters have any rights?”
Describing the empire of Yunus, she said that he has 4,800 kathas of land in Purbachal, where he has built a resort named Nishorgo. It has a branch in Cox’s Bazar. “He also bought 5 acres of land in Uttara.
“So, how did he take so much land in Purbachal? By what law? What plan did he use to acquire the land, and will he not have to answer for it? He will not be tried… Will he not be held accountable?”
Sheikh Hasina said that Yunus has bought land worth Tk6,000 crore all over Bangladesh. “Will it serve the people? Have people received even a single service to date? No one has seen the face of the Ananda School that was supposed to be built by Yunus in Chittagong (on 83 or 87 kathas of land),” she said.
Grameen Power
Bangladesh’s economy may be tanking, hundreds of thousands may have lost their livelihoods, law and order may be comparable to a war zone, and inflation may be out of control, but one “brand” has remained untouched by the woes impacting millions. That being said, “Grameen” is the word synonymous with Muhammad Yunus, leader of Bangladesh’s current unelected and unconstitutional regime.
Yunus, his cronies, and the Grameen-related social and business enterprises have had a very prosperous seven and a half months. For instance, Grameen Kalyan was relieved from $54.8 million in taxes: on October 3, 2024, the High Court mysteriously withdrew its own earlier ruling dated August 4, 2024, which ordered “Grameen Kalyan” to pay the National Board of Revenue (NBR) TK666 Crore (approximately $54.8 million) in unpaid taxes from 2012 to 2017.
Grameen Bank got tax exemption for 5 years: On October 10, 2024, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) provided Grameen Bank tax-exempt status for five years until 2029. The exemption includes all types of income, including rental income from properties and vehicles, bank interest, and other earnings.
Government Oversight on Grameen Bank Reduced: It is crucial for a bank that solely focuses on microfinance activities to have government oversight or a stake. Surprisingly, a draft ordinance has been prepared by the Interim Government, which aims to reduce the government’s shares in the bank from 25% to 5% and reduce the government-appointed directors from 3 to 1. While the interim government says this is to increase independence, analysts believe that the real reason for divesting the government’s stakes in the bank is to bolster the control of the Yunus loyalists in the bank’s management.
Cases Withdrawn and Convictions Reversed: On August 7, 2024, a day before Yunus was sworn in as the Chief Adviser, the Labour Appellate Tribunal reversed the decision of a Dhaka Labour Court, which, on January 1, 2024, convicted and sentenced Yunus and three top officials of Grameen Telecom to six months’ imprisonment for multiple labour law violations. On August 11, 2024, Yunus was acquitted by a Dhaka court of a corruption case after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) withdrew its own case (filed on June 12, 2024) against Yunus for misappropriation of funds from Grameen Telecom workers. On October 24, 2024, the High Court quashed the proceedings of five cases against Yunus pending with the Labour Court for the dismissal of employees of Grameen Telecom. On March 17, 2025, the High Court dismissed a case filed in 2011 against Yunus and Grameen Shakti for adulteration in yogurt products.
Lucrative Business Licenses and Authorisations: On 20 March 2025, it was announced that Grameen Employment Services (owned by the Yunus Center and Grameen Education) had received the lucrative overseas employment business license. This is the only license granted since the Yunus regime came to power. Previously, on January 28, 2025, Samadhan Services Limited, a concern of Grameen Telecom, received the sought-after approval for becoming a payment service (”digital wallet”) provider, again the only such approval given in the last seven and a half months.
Nepotism and Favouritism in Govt Positions: Long-term Grameen loyalist Nurjahan Begum was appointed Health and Family Welfare Adviser in the Yunus-led Interim Govt. Another long-term Yunus associate, Lamiya Morshed (with a background in Grameen Trust, Yunus Centre and Grameen Healthcare), was appointed the principal coordinator for SDGs at the Chief Adviser’s Office (a very high-ranking policy position). Despite having no background in media or public relations, Apurba Jahangir was appointed as a Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser. Why? He is the nephew of Yunus.
These are some, not all, of the progresses made by Yunus, his cronies, and his Grameen concerns in the last seven and a half months since his assumption of the role of the Chief Adviser. One does not need to be a legal expert to spot the visible conflicts of interest, palpable breaches of professional ethics, strong evidence of corruption, and the obvious examples of favouritism and nepotism.
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