Regent Group Chairman and Regent Hospital owner Mohammad Shahed, alias Shahed Karim, has sought justice after pleading not guilty in court in a case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) over amassing illegal wealth.
He pleaded not guilty in the court of Judge Pradeep Kumar Roy of Dhaka Special Judge's Court-7 on Tuesday.
The court later set August 10 for the next hearing.
On November 5, 2020, the 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.