A Dhaka court on Thursday set May 18 for hearing testimonies against Abul Kalam Azad, former chief of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and five others in a case filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over Regent Hospital's fake Covid-19 test report scam.
Thursday was scheduled for hearing the testimonies, but no witnesses appeared in court, prompting the ACC to request more time.
Judge Monjurul Imam of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-6 granted the request and set the new date for the next testimony hearing.
The five other accused are Regent Chairman Md Shahed alias Shahed Karim, former DGHS director Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director Yunus Ali, Assistant Director Shafiur Rahman and research officer Didarul Islam.
On September 23, 2020, Deputy Director of the ACC Farid Ahmed Patwary lodged a complaint against five people with Dhaka Coordinated Office-1 for embezzling Tk1.37 crore by issuing fake Covid-19 test certificates from Regent Hospital.
Azad was not initially named in the chargesheet but his name was added later following an investigation.
On September 30, 2021, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) pressed charges against the six in the case.
On February 22, 2022, a Dhaka court accepted the chargesheet and shifted the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court-6.
The case was filed over allegations of embezzling government funds by entering into agreements to collect coronavirus
The case statements said that the accused, abusing their power and collaborating with each other, transformed Regent Hospital, which had not renewed its license, into a dedicated Covid hospital, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), and arranged for 3,939 Covid patients to be tested for free at the government-run lab Nipsom.
They embezzled over Tk1.37 crore by testing samples of Covid-19 patients in a government-run lab National Institutes of Preventive and Social Medicine (Nipsom), the statement added.
The accused also attempted to illegally collect Tk1.96 crore monthly as food allowance for doctors, nurses, and other officials of the hospital.
The trial in the high-profile case began on June 12, 2022, with the court framing charges against the accused.
