The foreign ministry has regretted that global leaders and Nobel laureates in an open letter requested the prime minister to "exercise extra-judicial authorities" to suspend the sub-judice cases against Prof Muhammad Yunus.

The ministrysaid Yunus and his aides have "resorted to international lobbying" in the face of legal consequences for their alleged or proven violation of law.

"It is unacceptable for a citizen of a sovereign country to repeatedly seek external interventions presumably based on his perception of being above the law of the land," said the ministry yesterday in a statement signed by Muhammad Mohsin Reza, deputy principal information officer.

On August 28, the global leaders and Nobel laureates, including former US president Barack Obama, in the open letter expressed concern about the safety of Yunus, stating that he has recently been targeted by what they believe is continuous judicial harassment.

They urged the prime minister to immediately suspend the judicial proceedings against him.

The foreign ministry said the letter is "marked by obvious gap of information and amounts to an affront to Bangladesh's independent judicial system".

"It comes as a surprise to the government that the signatories to the letter already reached their own conclusion about the merit of the sub-judice cases as well as the outcome of the judicial proceedings."

The signatories have also recommended an alternative process of reviewing the charges against Yunus and his aides in a manner that is incompatible with Bangladesh's established judicial system, the statement said.

It said the Anti-Corruption Commission had filed one such case under specific provisions of the Bangladesh Penal Code and Anti-Money Laundering Act- 2012 based on investigations concerning allegations of misappropriation of profits owed to the workers and employees of Grameen Telecom Ltd.

An ACC investigation found that Yunus, chairman of Grameen Telecom, along with its managing director and other board members "forged settlement agreement to misappropriate and illicitly transfer Tk252 million", the foreign ministry said.

Further, the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments, Dhaka had filed a case under Bangladesh Labour Act-2006 for multiple breaches, including for not setting up Workers' Contributory Fund and Welfare Fund as well as for not depositing 5 percent of net profits to the workers' welfare funds concerned since 2006, it added.

After losing a tax evasion case in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, Yunus filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court which rejected the petition. Yunus then paid the overdue tax amount to the National Board of Revenue. A few more tax evasion cases against him are pending trial now, the statement said.

In the cases of depriving the workers of their rightful profit, Yunus moved the highest court on two occasions. The highest court passed judgments affirming that the first case had been properly initiated, and the framing of charges in the second case was legal and correct, it added.

The foreign ministry said this was not the first time that Yunus and his aides resorted to international lobbying over their alleged or proven violation of law. He had decided to sue the government for terminating his contract as the Grameen Bank MD even though he was past the retirement age stipulated in the Grameen Bank Service Rules, 1993.

"…Having evaded corporate and income taxes and having deprived workers over the years, Dr Yunus, a salaried employee of Grameen Bank, invested large sums of supposedly misappropriated and laundered money in commercial ventures."

The statement said the allegations of persecution or harassment seem to follow a pattern that stems from a "victim mentality using human rights and democracy as an expedient cover".

It said the signatories to the letter would be well advised to counsel Dr Yunus to operate within the bounds of law instead of making unjustified insinuations about Bangladesh's democratic and electoral processes.

"The government would like to reiterate that no amount of veiled threats under the pretext of promoting democracy and human rights would detract the people of Bangladesh from upholding the rule of law," the ministry said.