Attempts are being made to protect the persons allegedly involved in the Tk 8 crore scam at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said a source close to the review committee formed by BSMMU vice chancellor.

Ignoring the recommendations made by a probe committee that submitted its report on July 26, Prof Mohammad Tahir, vice chancellor (VC) of BSMMU, formed a six-member committee on August 5 to review the recommendations.

Amid widespread allegation of corruption at BSMMU during the last ten years, particularly during the last elected government, chief adviser to the caretaker government on May 6 directed the VC to form the probe committee.

The probe report has recently been made available to The Daily Star. In the report, recruitment and promotion irregularities and various other anomalies in the procurement process of BSMMU have been identified.

The probe committee, headed by Prof Nazrul Islam, following two and a half months' investigation, found that BSMMU incurred a loss of over Tk 8 crore due to anomalies in the procurement process. Besides, proper procedures were not followed in the recruitment or promotion of the university staff including the teaching staff.

However, instead of forming a judicial inquiry as recommended by the probe committee, the review committee was formed with a number of members of the university syndicate that became invalid last year, alleged the source.

Besides, the review committee has gone way beyond its stipulated deadline of two months to submit its report, the source said.

"The review committee is just killing time as corruption of administrative officials including MA Mannan, the present pro-vice chancellor, was mentioned in the probe report submitted on July 26 this year," he said adding that the administrative officials are desperately trying to protect the corrupt by covering up the findings of the probe report.

"Only a few days ago, one of the members of the review committee, a procurement expert from health ministry, just started to scrutinise the procurement documents at BSMMU, giving one the impression that the committee is just procrastinating deliberately," said Prof Iqbal Arslan of BSMMU adding that it is also a sign of the ministry's apathy toward the investigation of corruption at BSMMU.

At least one of the members of the review committee is desperately trying to protect the corrupt by dragging in irregularities done between 1998 and 2001, said a teaching staff seeking anonymity.

"In the probe report that revealed corruption and irregularities in last five years, the VC was asked to place the report to higher authorities for proper implementation of the recommendations. The probe committee members also recommended that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) should handle certain issues," said the source in the review committee.

But instead, the VC formed another committee with specific terms of reference to review the probe report.

The review committee is now entertaining new complaints lodged by some 305 signatories, apparently the beneficiaries during the last regime, he said adding, "This is beyond their terms of reference. Instead of considering the findings in the previous report, it has been trying to protect the corrupt officials through 'balancing'."

"It has been trying to justify by comparing with the corruption that took place during both Awami League and BNP regimes," he said.

The probe report shows that the BSMMU administration started to violate the procurement procedure since 2002-2003 fiscal year by purchasing medicines through quotations.

The report also detected gross corruption in the procurement of various equipment including a second cath lab, bedside lockers, echocardiogram, water treatment plant, haemodialysis, ventilator for intensive care unit (ICU), bronchoscopy for paediatrics department, lithotropsy and the work of ICU renovation.

Member secretary of the then purchase committee, Deputy Registrar (administration and education) Dr Kazi Ebadullah told The Daily Star over the phone that if any corruption or irregularities had taken place at BSMMU at that time, all the members of the purchase committee should be held responsible, not just the member secretary.

"The procurement was done with the approval of the administrative officials. So, all members of the purchase committee including the then vice chancellor should be held liable for the purchases," he added.

According to the probe report, against 1,600 job openings, the BSMMU authorities recruited a staggering 3,600 employees. A large number of these new recruits including at least 51 teaching staff did not meet the qualifications mentioned in the job advertisement. Besides, standard procedure of giving preference to seniors was not followed during promoting employees.

"The observation of well-wishers of the university is that if this approach of justifying one crime by another without looking at the severity and gravity is entertained, the long-cherished dream of an ideal medical university will never be fulfilled," said a number of senior teaching staff.

All the offences and irregularities must be corrected and the wrongdoers must be punished -- irrespective of time and regime, they said adding that a high-powered judicial enquiry based on the findings of the probe report is essential.