A Dhaka court on Wednesday set April 7 for holding a hearing on charge-framing against former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad and five others in a graft case.
As Judge Asad Mohammad Asifuzzaman of Dhaka’s Sixth Special Judge’s Court was on vacation, Judge Nazrul Islam passed the order.
The other accused of the case are Regent Group Chairman Md Shahed alias Shahed Karim, former DGHS director Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director Dr Md Eunus Ali, Assistant Director Dr Md Shafiur Rahman and Research Officer Dr Md Didarul Islam.
For Wednesday’s hearing, police produced Shahed Karim before the court from jail, while the other five accused including Azad, who are on bail, appeared at the courtroom.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on September 23, 2020 against the five people. Initially, Azad's name was not on the list of accused.
Later, Investigation Officer and ACC Deputy Director Farid Ahmed Patwari filed a charge sheet in the case on September 30 against six, including Azad, as his involvement was found during the investigation.
According to the case documents, the accused under mutual agreement turned unregistered and out of operation Regent Hospital into a Covid-dedicated hospital and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
They arranged testing samples of 3,939 people for Covid-19 at National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (Nipsom) free of cost, whereas they realized Tk3,500 from each person as test fee and embezzled Tk13,786,500.
They are also accused of submitting bills of Tk19,620,000 as food allowance for doctors, nurses, ward boys and other officials and staff of Regent Hospital's Uttara and Mirpur branches.
