A Satkhira court recently issued a travel ban against all nine accused, including former Satkhira civil surgeon Dr Towhidur Rahman, in a pending graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Judge Sheikh Mofizur Rahman of the Satkhira Senior Special Judge's Court passed the order on June 16 following an application filed by the ACC with the court in this regard.
The accused include AKM Fazlul Haque, storekeeper of Satkhira Civil Surgeon Office, Md Anwar Hossain, accountant of the same office, and Md Jaher Uddin Sarkar, owner of Bengal Scientific and Surgical Co.
The others involved in the embezzlement case are Md Abdus Sattar Sarkar, Ahsan Habib, Asadur Rahman, all are hailing from Fulbari upazila in Dinajpur, and Kaji Abu Bakar Siddique, resident at Madaripur, and former engineer AHM Abdus Kuddus of Dhaka.
Satkhira Senior Special Judge’s Court Public Prosecutor Adv Asaduzzaman Dilu confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday, reports a correspondent from Satkhira.
He said that the investigating officer of the case Jahangir Alam filed an application with the court concerned on June 9 to prevent the accused from leaving the country during the pendency of trial in the graft case.
“The appeal was heard during a virtual court session on June 16,” he added.
Following the hearing, Judge Sheikh Mofizur Rahman granted the investigating officer's appeal, he said, adding that a copy of that order reached him on Wednesday.
On July 9, 2019, ACC Deputy Assistant Director M Jalal Uddin filed the graft case.
The accused, in collusion with each other, made three fake bills showing the purchase of medical equipment for Satkhira Sadar Hospital and several other upazila health complexes in the district without any revulsion letters, according to the case statement.
The accused withdraw over Tk16.71 crore by making the three fake bills and abusing powers and embezzled the amount, it said.
Later on September 6, Md Jahangir Alam, deputy director of the ACC and also investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to a court, accusing the nine.
