Staff Reporter :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found two national identity (NID) cards of the JKG Health Care Chairman Dr Sabrina Arif Chowdhury, who allegedly provided fake Covid-19 certificates and amassed money illegally.
ACC has sent a letter to the Election Commission (EC) regarding this on Tuesday and asked how she had two active NIDs.
The commission also found two Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) of Dr Sabrina.
ACC Deputy Director Selina Akhter Moni sent separate letters to the EC and National Board of Revenue (NBR) asking for information, said ACC Director (media) Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya on Wednesday. According to the commission, Dr Sabrina currently has two national identity cards in circulation. The name “Sabrina Sharmin Hossain” is mentioned on both the cards, however, the Bengali spellings of the names are different.
On both the NIDs, her father’s name is the same but her mother’s name is Kishore Jasmine on one card and Jasmine Hussain on the other. Similarly, her husband’s name is RH Haque on one and Ariful Chowdhury on another.
Sabrina’s birth year is different on the cards — 1978 and 1983. Her permanent and current address in one card is Mohammadpur PC Culture Housing and Badda, Pragati Sarani in another. Her profession is different as well-doctor and government official.
However, the signatures on both are the same.
According to the Election Commission’s database, Sabrina registered her first NID in the update list of 2016 and the second one in the new voter list.
An EC official said generally fingerprints are used to identify anyone trying to register for NID a second time. However, it seems Sabrina resorted to cheat with her fingerprints.
According to the Voter List Act 2009, anyone who becomes a voter by hiding information is liable to imprisonment for 6 months and a fine of Tk 2,000.
EC Secretariat Secretary Md Alamgir said they are investigating the matter and a report will be submitted by Wednesday. Necessary action will be taken against those responsible.
Moreover, EC has suspended the National Identity Card (NID) of Regent Hospital Chairman Mohammad Shahed for fraudulently changing his name on July 20.
Md Alamgir said: “Shahed had changed his name from Shahed Karim to Mohammad Shahed in his NID card on the pretext that it had been forged.”
The secretary also said the investigation is underway to find out the persons from EC involved with this fraud and action will be taken against them and Shahed on the basis of evidence. However, it is still an undercover matter.
Meanwhile, the ACC has also sent a letter to the Health Ministry asking how JKG got approval to conduct Covid-19 tests-as the commission received information of more than 15,000 fake Covid-19 certificates provided by JKG from police.
The ACC is also trying to obtain the documents to find out whether Dr Sabrina is actually the chairman of JKG Health Care or not.
On July 13, the commission decided to investigate the recent allegations brought against Dr Sabrina.
The commission has learnt from various sources that the accused conspired with her husband Arif Chowdhury to illegally amass Tk8 crore while holding a government job.
They collected samples from suspected Covid-19 patients in different parts of the country and issued as many as 15,460 fake test reports.
On July 12, police arrested JKG Health Care Chairman Dr Sabrina Arif Chowdhury on suspicion of her involvement with the recently discovered Covid-19 test scam in Dhaka.
The same day, the Health Ministry suspended Sabrina from the post of the registrar at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases. She was suspended for breaching service rules by serving as the chairman of a private organization without prior permission.
On June 15, a man named Kamal Hossain filed a case against JKG Healthcare with Tejgaon police station on the charge of issuing fake reports of Covid-19 tests.
Following that, the law enforcement agency raided the company and sealed it off on June 23.
On August 5, the detective branch of police submitted a charge sheet against the eight accused in this case to Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court.
According to the charge sheet, police mentioned Sabrina and Arif as the masterminds while their associates helped them to commit fraud and forgery.
