Dhaka, August 11: Muhammad Yunus was on Sunday acquitted in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, three days after he took oath as the head of Bangladesh's interim government, according to a media report. Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka accepted the Anti-Corruption Commission's application, which was filed with the court, seeking withdrawal of prosecution of the case, following section 494 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, an official of the anti-graft agency was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.

On August 7, a Dhaka court acquitted Yunus and three top officials of Grameen Telecom—Ashraful Hassan, M Shahjahan, and Nurjahan Begum—in a labour law violation case. Yunus, the 84-year-old economist, took oath on Thursday as the chief adviser of the interim government. Nurjahan Begum, who was also accused in the graft case, is a member of the 16-member Council of Advisers, which will assist Yunus in running the state's affairs. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Takes Oath As Head of Bangladesh’s Interim Government.

Yunus had been in a protracted row with the Sheikh Hasina government due to obscure reasons while authorities initiated a series of investigations against him after she came to power in 2008. Bangladesh authorities launched a review of the statutory Grameen Bank's activities in 2011 and fired Yunus as its founding managing director on charges of violating the government retirement regulation. ‘This Is Our First Responsibility’: Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Ensures No Attack Anywhere in Bangladesh Amidst Political Turmoil.

Yunus was charged under dozens of cases during Hasina's regime. In January, a court sentenced Yunus to six months in jail on charges of labour law violation. Many people believe Hasina became enraged when Yunus announced that he would form a political party in 2007 when a military-backed government ran the country and Hasina was in prison.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)