The High Court (HC) has found Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus guilty of tax evasion and ordered him to pay over Tk12 crore to the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The verdict, a first against Dr Yunus, was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Rashed Jahangir on Wednesday (31 May) centring evasion charges during the years 2011 to 2013.
Prior to the court's decision, Yunus had contested the validity of the NBR's notice, which demanded a tax amount of Tk15 crore on 23 May.
The HC on 23 May had set today to deliver the verdict in three tax reference cases filed by Yunus over NBR's legality to claim taxes of over Tk15 crore on donations.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state during the court proceedings while Barrister Mostafizur Rahman Khan appeared on behalf of Yunus.
Addressing reporters, the attorney general stated Dr Yunus had claimed tax exemption based on donations made. However, the state argued that the donations did not qualify for the mentioned exemptions.
"He has to pay donation tax. The court has considered our arguments," he added.
As per court dockets, the NBR had issued a notice to Yunus under the Donations Tax Act, 1990, for around Tk12.28 crore as tax related to donations amounting to Tk61.57 core during 2011-2012.
Similarly, another notice was sent for 2012-2013, demanding some Tk1.60 crore in taxes against a donation of Tk8.15 crore.
Additionally, in the tax year 2013-2014, a notice was issued demanding about Tk1.50 crore taka in taxes against a donation of some Tk7 crore taka.
Dr Yunus challenged the validity of these notices, asserting that the NBR lacked the authority to impose taxes on donations according to the existing law.
In 2014, the Taxes Appellate Tribunal dismissed Yunus' appeal. Later, he filed three separate income tax reference cases with the HC.
During the preliminary hearing of his case, the HC had issued a ruling in 2015 staying the notices issued by NBR. However, today's verdict has gone in favour of the NBR.
