The Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC has launched an investigation into the allegations of amassing illegal wealth against Mohammed Shahed alias Shahed Karim, chairman of Regent Hospital who is on the run after being implicated in a COVID-19 test scam.
The graft-busters formed a three-strong panel headed by Deputy Director Md Abu Bakar Siddique on Monday to conduct the probe, its spokesman Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said.
Other panel members are assistant directors Md Neyamul Hasan Gazi and Sheikh Md Golam Mowla.
Shahed has allegedly embezzled billions by defrauding ordinary people through his microcredit and MLM business, Pranab said.
“The commission decided to open a probe after it received complaints that Shahed amassed a fortune through multi-layered fraudulence, embezzlement of government funds, evading taxes as well as borrowing from banks using fake identities.”
The ACC filed the complaints against Shahed from aggrieved citizens, the media, virtual platforms and other sources, before opening the probe.
“The information was presented to the complaint cell of the commission and it decided to open a probe. The special investigation division of the ACC will conduct the probe.”
Shahed, the chairman of Regent Group, is being hounded by law-enforcement agencies after it emerged that his hospitals swindled thousands of unsuspecting patients out of millions of takas on the pretext of coronavirus treatment.
The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB sealed off the headquarters and two branches of Regent Hospital in Dhaka. It also initiated a case against 17 people, including Shahed, on charges of issuing fake COVID-19 test reports and other irregularities.
The case alleges that the hospital authorities duped nearly 6,000 patients out of Tk 20.1 million by issuing fake coronavirus tests reports even though it was supposed to provide free treatment for COVID-19. They later forwarded a bill of Tk 19.6 million to the health directorate.
Although some of the hospital staff were arrested in the case, Shahed, the key suspect, remains at large, reports UNB.