A huge amount of money from a Tk15 crore related tender allotted to Sheikh Hasina Medical College in Habiganj was embezzled in collusion with the college administration.
A tender was floated in 2018 for buying books, journals, instruments, along with other equipmentas part of the academic activities of the college.
A three-member team was formed for this purpose, headed by Prof Dr Md Shahin Bhuiya of the physiology department, upon the directives ofDr Abu Sufiyan, principal of the college.
Despite the participation of seven organizations in the tender process, Nirjhora Enterprise located in Shyamoli's Biswas Kunjochhowa Bhaban and Punam Trade International located in Motijheel's Monjuri Bhaban were given the responsibility of supplying the products, without the approval of the members of the appraisal team.
Of the allotted Tk15.50 crore, Tk1,61,97,748 was deposited in the treasury as VAT and tax while Tk13,87,81,109 was shown as money spent on buying the necessary products.
The cost of the products bought should not have exceeded Tk5 crore. The rest of the money was embezzled, according to people linked to the tender process.
Among the supplied products, it was shown that 67 Lenovo 110 model laptops cost Tk99,49,500, each valued at Tk1,48,500. The market price of the same laptop was only Tk42,000.
An HP colour printer worth Tk60,000 was bought at Tk2,48,900.
A conference table and executive chairs for seating 50 people along with a sound system were shown to have cost Tk61.29 lakh. However, the cost of the furniture was ascertained to be less than half of that price.
Moreover, the cost of 15 bookshelves of substandard quality was shown as Tk6.60 lakh, 5 steel armoires as Tk2.85 lakh, 10 steel file cabinets as Tk4.22 lakh, 25 steel racks as Tk13.97 lakh, and 6475 books as Tk4,49,08,664.
In addition, Nirjhora Enterprise billed Tk1,14,86,313 for 104 plastic models of various organs of the body, and Tk70,550 for the book, Pediatric Surgery, which actually costs Tk33,000.
The other contractor Punam Trade International billed Tk3.25 lakh — Tk2,63,00,325 for 81 in total — for each Carl Zeiss Primo Star Microscope, which cost Tk1,39,300 in the local market. It also billed Tk61.38 lakh for ACs at a rate of Tk1.68 lakh for each AC. Six Walton branded fridges were bought at the rate of Tk85,000, which is actually worth Tk39,390. They charged Tk6.40 lakh for a single digital weighing machine, which costs Tk40,000.
Additionally, the college administration bought several paper charts of organs at a rate of Tk7,800, the cost of which range from Tk100 to Tk500. They spent Tk35.10 lakh for 450 such charts. They also paid Tk15.35 lakh for an interactive whiteboard called Hitachi Starboard, which costs Tk1.38 lakh.
On condition of anonymity, two teachers of the college said the books bought were research books which could only be useful to fifth year students. But the first batch of students of the college were only in their third year and they would be fifth year students in 2022. By that time these books would become outdated.
Habiganj Sadar upazila Chairman Motassirul Islam said the college was named after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to show respect, but the people involved in the corruption had disrespected the prime minister.
"We will lose the respect of the prime minister and the people of the country if corrupt people get away with their crime," he added.
Principal Dr Md Abu Sufiyan said: "There were no irregularities or corruption as the tender was given to the lowest bidders after checking the market price following the buying guidelines provided by the government."
On December 5, a committee formed by the Health Ministry and headed by Medical Education and Family Welfare Joint-Secretary Md Azam Khan investigated the incident.
Azam Khan said report of the investigation, submitted on December 18, revealed that there were irregularities in purchases of equipment for the medical college.
The establishment of Sheikh Hasina Medical College was approved on January 1, 2015 with the efforts of Habiganj-3 constituency MP Md Abu Zahir. It commenced its journey with the enrollment of 51 students for the 2017-2018 academic session.
