Regent Hospital scam: Charges against ex-DG of DGHS, 5 others accepted

A Dhaka court today accepted charges against Abul Kalam Azad, former director general of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS), and five others in a case filed over the Regent Hospital scam.

Among the accused, Azad and four other accused -- former director (Hospitals and Clinics) of DGHS Dr Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director (Hospital-1) Dr Md Younus Ali, Assistant Director (Hospital-1) Dr Md Shafiur Rahman, and Research Officer Dr Md Didarul Islam – are now on bail. They all were present at the court today.

Another accused Shahed Karim, chairman of Regent Group, is now in jail.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after scrutinising the case dockets and other relevant documents.

The judge also transferred the case to the Special Judge Court-6 of Dhaka for its trial and fixed March 16 for hearing on charge framing against the accused.

On January 23, the same court granted Azad permanent bail after his surrendered before it.

The accused were charged for their alleged involvement with embezzlement of government funds in the name of coronavirus sample collection and treatment without having any licence.

On September 30 last year, ACC Deputy Director Md Farid Ahmed Patwary, also investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka.

In the charge sheet, Azad's name was included as his involvement with the scam was found during the investigation.

The ACC filed the case against Shahed and four others, excluding the name of Azad on September 22 of 2020.