The immediate past acting managing director of the Grameen Bank yesterday refuted the claims that the microcredit lender has never paid dividends to its shareholders.

Dividends were paid to all the shareholders, said Nurjahan Begum who had taken over the charge of acting managing director of the Grameen Bank after Dr Muhammad Yunus stepped down from the bank in May last year.

The bank gave 100 percent dividend in 2006 and 20 percent in 2007 and 30 percent in 2008, 2009 and 2010, she said in a statement.

Nurjahan, who also retired last year, had been with the bank for 35 years since its inception.

Her comments came a day after Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Prof Yunus did not pay dividends to its shareholders.

Of the 84 lakh borrowers of the bank, 55 lakh borrowers have so far bought shares of the bank, Nurjahan said.

The borrowers bought shares of Tk 55 crore to become owners of 97 percent shares of the Grameen Bank, whereas the government owns the rest 3 percent as it bought shares worth Tk 1.80 crore.

The Grameen Bank has so far paid Tk 2.52 crore to the government as dividends and Tk 63 lakh each to Sonali Bank and Bangladesh Krishi Bank.

Nurjahan said the Grameen Bank could not pay dividend until 1996 as it did not earn enough profit to do so.

She said dividend could not be given between 1997 and 2005 to meet the government's conditions.

To obtain income tax waiver, all profits were deposited in the rehabilitation fund as per government condition. As a result, the board did not give any dividend.

News: Daily Star/Bangladesh/27-Aug-12