Regent Hospital scam: Charge sheet hearing against 6 on Feb 22

A Dhaka Court on Sunday fixed February 22 for hearing on the charge sheet against six people in a case over Regent Hospital’s fake Covid test scam.

Dhaka, Jan 23 : A Dhaka Court on Sunday fixed February 22 for hearing on the charge sheet against six people, including former Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad, in a case over Regent Hospital’s fake Covid test scam.

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Emrul Kayesh deferred the hearing to February 22 as accused Regent Chairman Md Shahed was not produced in court from jail.

The court earlier fixed today (Sunday) for the hearing on accepting the charge sheet in the case. For this, five accused on bail, including former DGHS DG Abul Kalam Azad, appeared in the court.

Besides, the court granted permanent bail to former DGHS DG Abul Kalam Azad in the case today. The same court granted him interim bail on October 7 last year.

On September 30 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted a charge sheet to the court against six people, including Abul Kalam, in this case.

The five others accused in the case 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.

Azad was not initially named in the charge sheet but his name was added later following an investigation.

On September 23 of 2020, Deputy Director of the anti-graft commission Farid Ahmed Patwary filed the case against five people with Dhaka Coordinated Office-1 for embezzling Tk 1.37 crore by issuing fake Covid test certificates from Regent Hospital.

On September 24, 2020, the court accepted the statement of case and directed ACC deputy director to investigate the case and submit a report, reports UNB.