Regent Hospital Chairman Md Shahed, previously apprehended for a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) scam, is now on the run for the forging of Covid-19 certificates and other improprieties at his hospital branches in Uttara and Mirpur.
Shahed last called his wife on Monday.
At the time he told her that he had gotten himself into a little bit of trouble and would not return home.
When Shahed’s wife asked about his whereabouts, he replied: “I am fine, I am safe.”
Shahed’s wife Sadia Arabi Rimmy has spoken to a number of media outlets since Shahed went into hiding.
She knows her husband has two hospitals, a school, and college.
Sadia says she gave her husband Shahed several opportunities in their relationship. Shahed had some problems regarding money with Sadia’s family members also, and he went to jail in a case before.
Shahed lived with his wife and two daughters in a rented home in Dhaka’s Old DOHS. After the most recent scam of forged Covid certificates, Shahed did not return home and his wife is at home alone with her two daughters.
In 2008, hardly a year into their marriage, Sadia moved back to her mother's house when Shahed’s Multi Level Marketing (MLM) scam was disrupted and she did not move back with Shahed for two years.
At that time, she gave Shahed a condition that he fix his problems, if he wanted her to return.
She had no detailed idea about Shahed’s businesses. However, she returned after the family problem was resolved, Sadia said.
When Sadia was asked about Shahed’s two year imprisonment for the MLM scam, she said Shahed did not spend two years in jail. Rather, he spent only three months in jail and was released on bail later. She thought Shahed had come clean and become a good man after coming back from jail.
She said to different media outlets that she had no knowledge of Shahed scamming people: “Neither Shahed nor his employees ever shared his business information with me. Because they knew I would never accept such things.”
In replying to another question, Sadia said Shahed had never been in the army.
Sadia said: “We were very proud of him as Regent Hospital was providing treatment to Covid-19 patients.”
She herself has repeatedly posted the hotline numbers of Regent Hospital on Facebook. She also shared the Facebook review of those who recovered from treatment at the hospital.
“We thought that Shahed had become a good person,” Sadia said.
When asked whether she wanted to see her husband face trial, she replied: “In fact, we have nothing to say about this case. We are stunned by these events. That is the rule of law. The state will decide. If Shahed has done these things, he will be punished even if we say no.”
In such cases every one desires justice, she added.
RAB raided both branches of Regent Hospital
Earlier, on Monday, RAB conducted raids at the Uttara and Mirpur branches of Regent Hospital in Dhaka and found that it forged over 6,000 Covid-19 certificates and embezzled over Tk3 crore in the name of providing Covid-19 testing and treatment.
The mobile court, led by RAB Executive Magistrate Sarwoer Alam on Tuesday raided the Regent Group head office and seized some fake certificates, many unauthorized rapid testing kits, and an unregistered vehicle with a flag stand and stickers of the health ministry on it.
Sarwoer told reporters at a briefing that the certificates were forged at the main office in Uttara sector-12, and were then sold to various people at a price of Tk 3,500.
A case was filed against 17 officials and staff members of Regent Hospital, including its chairman Shahed, on Tuesday, in connection with providing several thousand fake Covid-19 certificates and charging people for free tests. RAB arrested eight involved in the scam.
On Wednesday, a court in Dhaka sent seven officials and employees of the hospital into a five-day remand for each.
Shahed has been absconding since the incident.
