Cricket bats worth Tk 15,000 each for medical trainees!

A former Satkhira civil surgeon has misappropriated about Tk 41 lakh from public funds through procurement of vastly overpriced sports equipments, an inquiry by Anti-Corruption Commission has found.

Price of a Tk 2,200 football was inflated to Tk 5,000, while cricket bats' price was shown at Tk 15,000, at least three times higher than the actual price, said ACC officials.

Already facing cases for procurement anomalies, Dr Towhidur Rahman bought 20 footballs and 50 cricket bats for a Medical Assistant Training School (MATS) and Institute of Health Technology (IHT) in 2017-18 fiscal.

"Towhidur didn't wait for approval from DGHS [Directorate General of Health Services] to procure these," said an inquiry official.

Meanwhile, ACC Director Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said the commission has already approved filing of two cases in this regard. The anti-graft watchdog will sue Towhidur and Benevolent Enterprise owner Shahinur Rahman for misappropriation.

Sources said Towhidur sought allocation on December 31, 2017 from DGHS for procuring sports and medical equipment and furniture.

Before getting the allocation, he floated tender for supply of footballs, cricket bats, balls, gloves, stumps, pads and helmets on February 15, 2018.

He gave work order to Benevolent Enterprise on May 15, 2018.

Nine days later, it supplied all the equipment and submitted two separate bills each worth Tk 50 lakh, document shows.

After deducting VAT and income tax, then civil surgeon approved his bills and paid him about Tk 89 lakh.

An expert team comprising Directorate of Sports members visited both MATS and IHT and inspected quality of the items on September 26, 2019.

An ACC official said, "They found that the actual price of the sports equipment supplied to MATS was Tk 23.69 lakh and IHT was Tk 23.88 lakh."

"The contractor and civil surgeon embezzled Tk 41.42 lakh," he added.

ACC deputy assistant directors Ferdous Rahman and Shahidur Rahman investigated the incident, which was supervised by Deputy Director Shamsul Alam.

On September 9 last year, a Satkhira court sent Towhidur to jail in another graft case, filed over misappropriating Tk 16.61 crore.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare allocated the money in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 fiscals for procuring various medical equipment for hospitals and health complexes.

But, the then civil surgeon Towhidur, who retired in February 2019, allegedly embezzled the money by issuing fake documents of procurement.

ACC sources said Towhidur is now on bail.

The Daily Star could not reach Towhidur and Shahinur for comments.