Two probe bodies of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) have found a contractor guilty of supplying an empty box that was supposed to contain a Tk9.9m piece of equipment.
Hassan Enterprise, the contractor firm, tried to get the bill without actually supplying the expensive High Pressure Steam Steriliser Machine, the probe bodies said.
However, the contractor claimed that it was the victim of a dispute among the leaders of the ruling party-backed doctors’ association and that it was only trying to get the benefits of the so-called “June practice.”
A probe body recommended that the firm be blacklisted and never again allowed to supply anything for any government organisation.
Hospital sources said on the afternoon of June 26, a truck laden with a huge wooden box arrived at the NICVD.
According to the invoice, the box, sent by the lowest bidder Hassan Enterprise, contained a Tk9.9m machine used to sterilise 700 litres of water.
Hospital storekeeper Sirajul Islam signed the invoice and received the box.
The next day, NICVD Director Prof Dr Abu Shafi Al Majumder sent the hospital survey committee to check the consignment and found that it was empty.
On June 27, the hospital authorities formed a five-member probe body led by Prof Afzalur Rahman of the Cardiology Department. Later, another three-member committee was formed.
The authorities sacked the storekeeper on June 30.
The committees, who have recently submitted their reports, claimed that the officials of the contractor firm had admitted during interrogation that they deliberately sent the empty box.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, proprietor of Hassan Enterprise, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had evidence that many other firms in the past had taken advantage of the June practice and would go to court if his firm was blacklisted.
According to him, since June 27 is the last date for collecting bills for any kind of supply to a government organisation for a fiscal year, many contractors have in the past collected bills without physically supplying the product they were contracted for.
He said he had got the work order for supplying the sterilising machine around June 10 and therefore it was not possible for his company to import the machine from Korea before June 27.
He claimed that he had no intention of not supplying the machine and that he had sent a dummy box just to get the bills before that date.
“I will go to court if my firm is blacklisted. There I will talk about how contractors get the bill for supplying equipment worth billions during the month of June every year without actually supplying them physically.”
NICVD Director Prof Majumder, however, claimed that such practices were not possible because no bill was released without the approval of the survey committee and the department concerned.
Sources said a dispute between two rival groups of the Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad (Swachip), the government-backed doctors’ association, brought the matter to daylight.
During the 2009-10 fiscal, an influential group of Swachip doctors were accused of irregularities in purchasing equipment worth Tk100m for the hospital. An Anti-Corruption Commission case against that group is still being heard at the court. Following the fall of that group, another group surfaced to power and took control over all kinds of procurement by the hospital.
This second group, in exchange for handsome bribes, had allegedly assured Mohiuddin that they would arrange for the payment of his bills even if he took a few days more to supply the machine.
Sources said it was the first group that had actually tipped off the authorities about the so-called June practice of Hassan Enterprise.
