Dr Yunus must pay Tk666cr in taxes: HC

The High Court has ruled that Grameen Kalyan, associated with former chief adviser of the interim government Dr Muhammad Yunus, must pay Tk666 crore in taxes demanded by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

A High Court bench led by Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia delivered the verdict on Thursday, rejecting a rule issued in connection with the tax demands.

Barristers Abdullah Al Mamun and Fida M Kamal appeared for Dr Yunus during the hearing.

Following a reassessment, Grameen Kalyan filed two separate writ petitions in 2017 challenging the NBR’s tax demands for the 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 tax years.

After preliminary hearings, the High Court issued rules in the cases.

In an earlier development, on 4 October, a High Court bench comprising Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarker and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir suo motu withdrew an earlier verdict directing Grameen Kalyan to pay Tk666 crore in taxes.

The case records were subsequently sent to the Chief Justice, after which the matter was assigned to a new bench.

The new bench on Thursday rejected the rules, effectively dismissing the writ petitions and upholding the NBR’s tax demands.

With the writ petitions dismissed, the NBR can now proceed with recovering the Tk666 crore from Grameen Kalyan as income tax.