A Dhaka court on Sunday framed charges against six people including Abul Kalam Azad, former chief of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), in a case over Regent Hospital’s fake Covid-19 test report scam.
Judge Asad Mohammad Asifuzzaman of Dhaka’s Sixth Special Judge Court framed the charges and fixed July 4 for recording testimonies of the witnesses.
The trial in the case started formally with the framing of charges.
On June 6, the court fixed June 12 for the charge-framing hearing.
The five other accused are Regent Chairman Md Shahed alias Shahed Karim, former DGHS director Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director Yunus Ali, Assistant Director Shafiur Rahman and research officer Didarul Islam.
Of them, five including former DGHS boss Azad secured bail while Regent Group Chairman Shahed is now in jail.
On September 30, 2021, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) pressed charges against the six in the case.
Azad was not initially named in the chargesheet but his name was added later following an investigation.
On September 23, 2020, Deputy Director of the ACC Farid Ahmed Patwary lodged a complaint against five people with Dhaka Coordinated Office-1 for embezzling Tk1.37 crore by issuing fake Covid-19 test certificates from Regent Hospital.
On September 24, 2020, the court accepted the statement of the case and directed the ACC deputy director to investigate the case and submit a report.
On February 22, a Dhaka court accepted the chargesheet and shifted the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court-6.