High Court orders Dr Yunus to pay Tk 666 crore in tax

The High Court has ruled that Grameen Kalyan, owned by former interim government Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, must pay Tk 666 crore in taxes claimed by the National Board of Revenue (NBR). The court delivered the judgment on Thursday (September 10), dismissing a rule issued in connection with the tax dispute.

The bench, led by Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia, pronounced the judgment. Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun and Barrister Fida M Kamal appeared for Dr Yunus during the hearing.

The dispute concerns tax claims for the assessment years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. Following the July mass uprising, a High Court bench had previously withdrawn a judgment ordering Grameen Kalyan to pay the Tk 666 crore claimed by the NBR. The judgment was withdrawn on October 4.

The earlier bench, comprising Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir, withdrew the judgment on its own motion and sent the case records to the Chief Justice. The case was subsequently assigned to a new bench.

The dispute originated in 2017, when Grameen Kalyan filed two separate writ petitions challenging the tax demands arising from reassessments for the five tax years. After preliminary hearings, the court issued rules in the cases.

The new High Court bench dismissed those rules on Thursday. With the writ petitions dismissed, the NBR will now be able to recover the Tk 666 crore in income tax from Grameen Kalyan, as ordered by the court.