N95 mask scam: JMI Chairman Abdur Razzak arrested in case filed against him, 6 CMSD staffers

A team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing Ltd Chairman Md Abdur Razzak in a case filed on charges of supplying fake N95 masks to the Central Medical Store Depot (CMSD), the government body that sources medical supplies.

Razzak was arrested from the capital today after Deputy Director of ACC Md Nurul Huda filed a case against him in this connection, ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya confirmed to The Daily Star.

The ACC deputy director filed the case with its Integrated District Office, Dhaka, accusing Abdur Razzak and six staff members of CMSD.

The CMSD employees are: Deputy Director Md Zakir Hossain Khan; Assistant Director Md Shahjahan Sarkar; Chief Coordinator and Desk Officer Dr Md Ziaul Haque;  Desk Officer Dr Sabbir Ahmed; Acting Store Staff Md Karbir Ahmed and Senior Store Keeper Md Yusuf Fakir.   

According to the case statement, JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing Ltd supplied 20, 610 pieces of fake N95 masks to CMSD in March, and the masks were later distributed to 10 organisations.  

On July 8, ACC Director Mir Md Zainul Abedin Shebly quizzed Razzak for about six hours to glean more information regarding the issue. The ACC director on July 1 had summoned Razzak to appear for interrogation over the allegations.

The controversy over the mask supply came to the fore in early April, when health professionals in various hospitals were questioning the quality of respirators, with some resorting to social media to vent their frustrations.

With the complaints over poor quality respirators surfacing, the CMSD withdrew the masks that were supplied by JMI Hospital Requisite MFG Ltd.