A Dhaka court has sent Regent Hospital Chairman Shahed Karim, alias Mohammad Shahed, to jail after seven days on remand in a case filed for embezzling Tk 2.71 crore from Farmers Bank Ltd, now Padma Bank.
Judge KM Imrul Kayesh of the Dhaka Senior Special Judges Court issued the order after Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Assistant Director M Shahjahan Meraj, investigation officer (IO) of the case, produced Shahed in court after the remand period.
Earlier on Sunday, the IO interrogated Shahed at the ACC headquarters from 9:30am to 2:30pm, according to ACC Director (Media) Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya.
On Thursday, the ACC said they had finished interrogating Shahed and produced him in court after just four days in remand. The court criticized the investigation officer for bringing Shahed in before the end of the remand period and ordered that the Regent chairman be interrogated further.
Asking to remain anonymous, an ACC official told Dhaka Tribune, Shahed interrupted interrogation on the first day of remand complaining of chest pain and demanding transfer to a hospital on an emergency basis.
Subsequently, he was taken to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU) on Tuesday morning where a diabetes test, blood test, ECG, X-ray, andblood pressure check found no physical problems.
On July 27, the ACC filed the case against Shahed and three others: former audit committee chairman of the bank, Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty, his son Rashedul Haque Chisty, and Regent Hospital Managing Director Ibrahim Khalil.
According to the case statement, Shahed took a Tk2 crore loan from the bank’s corporate branch in Gulshan on January 15, 2015, for the purchase of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine for Regent Hospital. However, Shahed, who is also accused in around 65 other cases, took the loan from the bank with forged documents and embezzled the money in collusion with the others accused.
As per the conditions of the loan, Shahed maintained a Tk1 crore FDR at the bank. After adjustment for the FDR, the amount of the loan stood at Tk 1.71 crore till July 15 of this year, which was embezzled by the accused, said the case statement.
Shahed is accused of embezzling government funds, evading income tax, embezzling crores of taka through bank loans under fake names, and many other forms of fraud and deception.
On July 15, he was arrested by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on the banks of the Labangaboti canal at a village in Satkhira’s Debhata upazila.
On July 6, RAB raided the branches of Regent Hospital on allegations they were issuing fake Covid-19 certificates and charging exorbitant fees for Covid-19 testing and treatment, in violation of an agreement with the government.
RAB found evidence in the course of the raids, of at least 6,000 fake Covid-19 test certificates.
The next day, RAB filed a case with Uttara West police station against 17 people, including Shahed. Later, ten other people were also arrested.