Staff Reporter :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday approved a chargesheet against the former Director General (DG) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad and five others including Regent Hospital Chairman Mohammed Shahed for embezzling government funds.
Azad stands accused of signing a Covid-19 treatment deal with Regent Hospital an unlicensed health facilities.
The national anti-graft watchdog approved a chargesheet against six people, including Azad and Shahed, on Monday. The charges will soon be submitted to the court, ACC spokesperson Mohammad Arif Sadiq said.
The four others accused in the case are former DGHS Director Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director Yunus Ali, Assistant Director Shafiur Rahman and Research Officer Didarul Islam.
Farid Ahmed Patwary, Deputy Director of the anti-graft commission, started a case against five people — four DGHS officials and Shahed — on Sept 23 last year for embezzling Tk 33.4 million through irregularities after signing the deal.
Azad was not initially named in the case but the chargesheet added his name after the investigation. The investigator submitted the chargesheet in the case after a yearlong probe.
On June 6, 2020, RAB raided the Uttara and Mirpur branches of the Regent Hospital on complaints that the hospital was issuing fake Covid-19 certificates, as well as charging exorbitant fees for Covid-19 testing and treatment of patients.
RAB also found evidence of at least 6,000 fake Covid-19 test certificates during the raid.
The next day, RAB filed a case against 17 people, including its chairman Mohammad Shahed alias Shahed Karim, with Uttara West police station.
Shahed was arrested by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from Debhata upazila of Satkhira while reportedly trying to flee to India in the early hours of July 15, 2020. He was airlifted to the capital.
On the same day RAB raided his Uttara den and recovered fake notes, among other things, from there.
According to the case statement, 76 labourers of the metro rail project were given fake Covid-19 test reports from the hospital.
Without even conducting tests on them, three of the workers were given Covid-19 positive reports while the rest were provided with negative reports from the hospital.
Despite being a Covid-19 dedicated hospital, the authorities of the health facility took Tk3,500 from each of the workers for a coronavirus test.
Rezaul Karim, a sub-contractor of the metro rail project, filed a case against 17 people, including Regent Group owner Shahed and the Managing Director of Regent Hospital (Uttara branch) Mizanur Rahman with Uttara West police station over the issuing of fake Covid-19 certificates.
