United State Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary is looking into the alleged interference by former Secretary Hillary Clinton to influence an “independent government investigation” against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the committee, issued a letter on June 1 to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, seeking additional information on a range of issues, and interview of a US official, seemingly relevant to this inquiry.
According to the letter, “The allegations of special treatment include reports of a threatened IRS audit of the Bangladeshi prime minister’s son, living in the United States, if he did not help quash a Bangladeshi government investigation of the businessman and Clinton organisation donor Dr Muhammad Yunus.”
The letter claimed that for decades, microcredit pioneer Yunus has been “heralded by the Clinton Foundation and has been showcased at a number of foundation functions.
“Bill Clinton also personally lobbied the Nobel Committee on behalf of Yunus, and in 2006 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Yunus’ companies donated $100,000 to $250,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative and $25,000 to $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation, it said.
Department of State under Hillary awarded more than $13 million in taxpayer funds to businesses aligned with Yunus, the letter alleged.
Grassley wrote that emails show that State Department officials, including Clinton, and staff for the Clinton Foundation closely monitored an attempt to remove Yunus from his bank position in Bangladesh and that the US Ambassador to Bangladesh sought meetings with the prime minister “to apply pressure in an attempt to end the investigation into Yunus.”
In 2011, the Bangladesh government removed Yunus from his position on the Grameen Bank Board of Directors, citing certain legal violations and statutory age limits on his position.
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