Testimony against Regent’s Shahed, ex-health DG, 4 others deferred to 4 Oct

A Dhaka court on Wednesday deferred to 4 October the recording of testimony against six people, including former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad and Regent Group Chairman Mohammad Shahed, in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Judge Md Zakaria Hossain of Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 set the new date as no prosecution witness appeared before the court. 

The other accused are former DGHS director Aminul Hasan, former deputy director Yunus Ali, former assistant director Shafiur Rahman and research officer Didarul Islam. 

ACC Deputy Director Farid Ahmed Patwari filed the case on 23 September 2020 and submitted the charge sheet on 30 September 2021. The court framed charges on 12 June 2022, and statements of 12 witnesses have so far been recorded. 

According to the case statement, the accused allegedly colluded and abused their official positions to facilitate the conversion of the unlicensed Regent Hospital into a dedicated COVID-19 hospital, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), and arranged free testing of samples from 3,939 COVID patients at the government-run National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) laboratory. 

The hospital allegedly charged Tk3,500 per patient for testing, totalling Tk1.37 crore, while the accused allegedly demanded Tk1.96 crore and sent a draft proposal to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for monthly food expenses at Regent Hospital’s Mirpur and Uttara branches.