Investigation of 3 cases against Shahed not complete even after 18 months
A total of 43 cases were lodged against Regent Group chairman Mohammad Shahed alias Shahed Karim across the country. From them, the verdict has been passed in one case and chargesheet has been filed in 39 cases. Investigations in the remaining cases have not been finished yet even after one and a half years.
The cases were filed under the Special Power Act, Arms Control Act and the Money Laundering Act against Shahed on the allegations of fraudulence, money embezzlement and acquiring illegal property. Shahed has been sentenced to lifetime imprisonment in a case filed under the Arms Control Act. He is imprisoned at the Dhaka Central Jail at the moment.
Rapid Action Battalion’s (RAB) mobile court conducted drives at the offices of Regent Hospital in the capital’s Uttara and Mirpur on several allegations on 6 July 2020. RAB’s executive magistrate Sarwar Alam led the drive.
The allegations are – issuing fake coronavirus certificates without testing, embezzling money from the relatives of the patients, several types of fraudulence and breaching government contract.
RAB sealed the Regent Hospital and its main office following the order of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) the next day (7 July).
RAB filed a case against 17, including Shahed, as plaintiff for issuing fake coronavirus certificates from the hospital.
Shahed had been absconding since the drive. He was arrested by RAB from Debhata upazila of Satkhira on 15 July 2020.
Regarding his arrest, RAB said Shahed was arrested from the banks of the Labangabati river in Komarpur village of the upazila. He was preparing to flee to India through the Komarpur border. Shahed was wearing a burqa at the time of his arrest. He even shaved off his moustache and dyed his hair to deceive the law enforcement agencies.
RAB filed a case under the Arms Control Act with Debhata police station as they recovered arms from Shahed at the time of his arrest. Shahed was brought to Dhaka by a helicopter from Satkhira.
With the permission of the court the detective branch (DB) of police conducted a drive in the capital’s Uttara west police station area with Shahed and recovered illegal arms and drugs. Later, two separate cases were lodged against Shahed over this.
Afterwards, a number of cases were filed against Shahed one after another across the country. In total, some 43 cases have been filed against him.
Shahed was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal no. 1 on 28 September 2020 in a case under the Arms Control Act. The police submitted the chargesheet against Shahed in this case on 30 July, 2020. The court took the chargesheet into cognizance on 19 August. Charges were framed against Shahed on 27 August.
Sources relevant to the investigations of the case say RAB has submitted indictment in 39 cases against Shahed. Charges were framed in only one of those cases. No charges have been framed in the remaining 38 cases so far.
Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-6 framed charges against six, including Shahed and former DGHS director general (DG) Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad in the case filed on the allegation of misappropriating the money allotted by the government for coronavirus sample testing and patient’s treatment. According to the case statement, they have embezzled a total of Tk 33.4 million. The court has fixed 4 July as the date for hearing the testimony.
According to the sources concerned, the investigations in three cases filed against Shahed on the allegations of money laundering, theft and acquiring property illegaly, have not been finished yet. These cases were filed between August and October 2020. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is in charge of investigating the cases filed on allegations of money laundering and theft. And the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) is investigating the case of gaining illegal properties.
Khandaker Rafiqul Islam, additional deputy inspector general (DIG) of CID’s central crime department, told Prothom Alo, “Investigations of two cases against Shahed, including the money laundering case, are still underway.”
CID inspector (financial crime) Md Moniruzzaman is in charge of investigating the case filed under the money laundering act. Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said, “We have found information that Shahed had earned Tk 79.3 million illegally. He embezzled this money by issuing coronavirus certificates without testing and not providing the sand in the Jolshiri Project despite promising.
However, Moniruzzaman claimed that the investigation in the case on the allegation of money laundering has been finished. The chargesheet in this would be filed soon, he added.
ACC director general (special) Sayeed Mahbub Khan has confirmed Prothom Alo about the case under investigation against Shahed. The ACC filed the case against him on the allegation of misappropriation of millions from a private bank.