A Dhaka court has framed charges against Regent Group Chairman and Regent Hospital owner Mohammad Shahed, alias Shahed Karim, in a case filed over amassing illegal wealth to the tune of nearly Tk1.70 crore and his failure to submit a wealth statement.
Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of Dhaka’s Tenth Special Judge's Court indicted Shahed on Sunday and set May 20 to start recording testimonies of prosecution witnesses in the case.
On November 5, 2020, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sent Shahed a notice asking him to submit statements of all immovable and movable wealth owned by him within 21 working days.
Later, he applied for an extension. The commission extended the deadline by 15 working days but he again failed to submit the wealth statement.
On March 1, 2021, the anti-graft watchdog filed a case against Shahed, tasking ACC Deputy Director Farid Ahmed Patwari with investigating it.
After 10 months, the investigating officer pressed charges against Shahed in the case on February 2.
Shahed and Regent Hospital came into the limelight in July 2020 after law enforcement agencies raided the hospital over its alleged involvement in providing fake Covid-19 certificates to people and embezzling money from patients.
He was arrested from Debhata upazila of Satkhira on July 15, 2020, said RAB. Later, around 36 cases were filed against him at different police stations across the country.
Shahed has already been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in an arms case.