Graft Case: Former civil surgeon lands in jail
A Satkhira court yesterday sent former civil surgeon of the district Towhidur Rahman to jail in a case filed over misappropriating Tk 16.61 crore when he was in office.
The court of District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Mofizur Rahman came up with the order when Towhidur appeared before it to file a bail petition.
Sources at Satkhira Civil Surgeon Office said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare allocated Tk 16.61 crores in the fiscal years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 for procuring different medical equipment.
But the then civil surgeon Towhidur, who retired in February this year, Accountant Anwar Hossain and Store Keeper AKM Fazlul Haque embezzled the money by issuing fake documents of procurement, the sources added.
The incident came to light when an inquiry team led by health ministry’s Joint Secretary Hasan Mahmud suddenly visited the office on April 9 and wanted to see the newly procured equipment.
On April 24, a team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) visited the civil surgeon office and found evidence of corruption during primary investigation.
A day later, Rasheda Sultana, divisional health director of Directorate General of Health Services in Khulna, visited the office and told journalists that she had found clear evidence of corruption.
Later on July 9, ACC’s Deputy Assistant Director Jalaluddin filed a corruption case against nine people, including Towhidur, Anwar and Fazlul.
The other accused are Jaher Uddin Sarker, director of Bengal Scientific and Surgical Company located in the capital’s Topkhana Road, his son Ahsan Habib, his father Abdus Sattar Sarker, his sister-in-law Asadur Rahman, Abu Bakar Siddique and AHM Abdul Quddus.
According to the case statement, the accused attempted to procure medical equipment for Satkhira Sadar Hospital and different upazila health complexes though no requisition was made by the hospital authorities.
Comments