Trial begins in graft case against DGHS ex-DG Azad

A court here today framed charges in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against former director general (DG) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad and five others.

Judge Asad Mohammad Asifuzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 framed the charges against the accused and fixed July 4 for recording depositions by witnesses.

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.

ACC filed the case on September 23, 2020 against the five people. Initially, Azad's name was not in the list of accused.

Later, investigation officer and ACC deputy director Farid Ahmed Patwari filed charge-sheet in the case on September 30 against six, including Azad, as his involvement was found during the investigation.

After accepting the charge-sheet, the court transferred the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 for further hearing.

According to the case documents, the accused under mutual agreement turned the 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 Taka 3,500 from each person as test fee and embezzled Taka 1, 37, 86,500 in this way.

They are also accused of submitting bills of Taka 1, 96, 20,000 as food allowance for doctors, nurses, ward boys and other officials and staff of Regent Hospital's Uttara and Mirpur branches.

- BSS