Bangla SC upholds sacking of Grameen founder Yunus

Bangladesh's Supreme Court today rejected a final appeal by Muhammad Yunus against his dismissal as managing director of Grameen Bank, the micro-lending institution he founded. 

Yunus had lodged a fresh appeal after the court in April upheld the decision by the country's central bank to remove him. Although a government probe recently cleared Grameen of financial irregularities, the finding did not change its decision to fire Yunus. 

Yunus, 71, was dismissed on the grounds that he had overstayed his position and refused requests to quit. The official retirement age for civil servants in Bangladesh, including managing directors of commercial banks, is 60. 

Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, set up Grameen, which means village in Bengali, and had been the bank's managing director since 2000. It has pioneered micro-lending to the poor by giving small loans to millions of borrowers. 

Praised at home and abroad by politicians and financiers as the "banker to the poor", he has lately been under attack - the bank itself said Yunus had been improperly appointed.

Many believe his removal from was government retaliation after he briefly considered a political career to challenge prime minister Sheikh Hasina. He sought to launch his own political party in 2007, but later aborted the move.