AL leader sued for importing subpar masks
The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has filed a case against the owner of Elan Corporation for importing "substandard" KN-95 masks by showing "fake documents".
Aminul Islam Amin, deputy publicity affair secretary of ruling Awami League, is the owner of the company. He, however, claimed one of his friends "who imported the masks using his import license is liable for this".
In another case filed by Tejgaon Industrial Police under the Special Powers Act, Tazul Islam of Dhaka's Hazaribagh and his driver were also sued for importing substandard masks using Elan Corporation's licence.
"We [DGDA] filed a case with Banani Police Station on May 29 over submitting fake documents. Later, police also filed a case under the Special Powers Act," Md Ruhul Amin, director of the DGDA, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The DGDA brought allegations under sections 468, 471 and 198 of the penal code.
Nur E Azam Mia, officer-in-charge of Banani Police Station, said the drug administration filed a case with the police station on May 29 and an investigation was ongoing.
According to the case statement, the Elan Corporation re-applied for a No Objection Certificate (NOC), attaching ISO 13458 certificate and Certificate of Analysis on May 19, and the DGDA issued the NOC on the same day.
Later, acting on a tip-off, the DGDA re-checked the documents and found some inconsistencies, according to the case statement.
"The mask producing company has issued the Free Sale Certificate by itself. In fact, drug regulatory authority [of the country in question] issues such certificate," read the statement.
According to the rules, it is the duty of the DGDA to scrutinise the documents before issuing an NOC and the DGDA's Ruhul Amin claimed they had issued the NOC "as per rules".
The DGDA, however, issued the NOC on the same day that the application was submitted by Elan Corporation, according to the case statement.
When asked whether the company submitted a sample of the mask with the application, Ruhul Amin said, "[They] submitted …
"But this is a time of the coronavirus emergency. Certain officers of ours have done this. Call me during office hours to know details from them," Ruhul Amin said when contacted around 7:00pm yesterday. "This is now not an issue for DGDA alone. Police is investigating it. Everything will come to light."
Owner of Elan Corporation Aminul Islam said he had an agreement with Tazul Islam that the latter would use his license and be liable for any irregularities.
Asked whether the agreement has any legal ground, he replied, "It has no legal ground but sometimes we need to keep requests."
A police official said the case is in the process of being transferred to the criminal investigation department.
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