The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has interrogated the chairman of JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing Ltd (JHRML) Md Abdur Razzaq on the first day of a five-day remand on charges of supplying and receiving fake N95 masks.
ACC Deputy Director Md Nurul Huda interrogated him at the ACC headquarters on Sunday.
Earlier on September 29, the commission arrested the JMI chairman, filing a case against him and six officials of the Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on charges of supplying and receiving fake N95 masks.
Razzaq was placed on a five-day remand by a Dhaka court on the same day. No lawyer was present in the court to defend Razzaq.
The six CMSD officials were sued as they were found responsible for receiving fake N95 masks from supplier JHRML, and distributing the masks to frontline healthcare professionals. The accused officials are Deputy Director Dr Zakir Hossain (now superintendent of Cox’s Bazar General Hospital), Assistant Director (Storage and Distribution) Shahjahan Sarkar, Chief Coordinator and Desk Officer Mohammad Ziaul Haque (now attached to DGHS), desk officer with additional responsibilities of the store Sabbir Ahmed (now medical officer of Dewanganj Upazila Health Complex in Jamalpur), Store Officer (acting) Kabir Ahmed (now on post-retirement leave), and Senior Storekeeper Mohammad Yusuf Fakir.
Including the JHRML chairman, the seven accused benefited through misusing their authority. They were responsible for supplying and receiving 20,610 fake N95 masks which were later distributed to 10 healthcare institutes, said an ACC statement.
Although CMSD officials are supposed to receive products only after they are checked by a survey committee, the 20,610 masks supplied by JHRML did not go through any such procedure. The distribution of the fake masks put the lives of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals at risk, the ACC statement added.