Famed Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus is one among the more than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money  to the Clinton Foundation.

The people who met with Hillary ‘either personally or through companies or groups’ — according to the Associated Press report which is currently rocketing through the media — is ‘an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.’

‘At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Hillary while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programmes, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million.’

‘Donors who were granted time with Clinton included an internationally known economist who asked for her help as the Bangladesh government pressured him to resign from a nonprofit bank he ran.’

The AP report says that Yunus-controlled organisations have donated between $125,000 and $300,000 to the Clinton Foundation, mostly as annual fees to attend Clinton Global Initiative meetings.

However, mediamatters.org in a report partly titled ‘Donations aren't why she met with him’ says ‘it’s completely absurd to suggest that ‘Clinton Foundation donor’ is a major part of Yunus’ identity, or the reason why he might command attention from the secretary of state.’

Quoting AP report, which says ‘Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering low-interest ‘microcredit’ for poor business owners, the Media Matters report notes, ‘He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is incredibly well-credentialed and almost universally celebrated.’

‘According to the Financial Times, beginning in 2007, tensions began between Yunus and Bangladesh’s government when Yunus “suggested he might establish his own political party to clean up Bangladesh’s public life.” Yunus was ultimately forced out of his managing director position at Grameen Bank in 2011 just months after the prime minister publicly denigrated microlenders as “bloodsuckers of the poor.” During that period, Clinton repeatedly received requests for help from Yunus, spoke with him on the phone, and after he was ousted met with him and publicly urged the government to halt their efforts to “seize control of Grameen Bank's effort to find new leaders’.’

‘And this wasn’t Clinton’s first encounter with Yunus - the Clintons have ties to the economist that go back decades before the foundation even existed. They brought Yunus to Arkansas in 1983 to learn more about how microfinance could be used in the state, and Bill Clinton talked about his work during his 1992 presidential campaign.’

However, ‘Grameen America's Asch referred other questions about Yunus to his office, but he had not responded by Tuesday’ reported AP.