DHAKA, Sept 2, 2026 (BSS) - A court here today adjourned till October 4 the 
hearing of a graft case against former Directorate General of Health Services 
(DGHS) Director General (DG) Abul Kalam Azad, Regent Hospital Chairman Md 
Sahed alias Sahed Karim and four others.

Judge Md Zakaria Hossain of Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 passed the order, 
allowing a time petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Today was fixed for recording depositions of the witnesses, but no 
prosecution witnesses appeared before the court to testify, prompting the 
prosecution to seek more time.

The other accused in the case are former DGHS director Aminul Hasan, deputy 
director (Hospital-1) Dr Eunus Ali, assistant director (Hospital-1) Dr 
Shafiur Rahman and research officer Dr Didarul Islam.

Then deputy director of the ACC Farid Ahmed Patwari filed the case against 
five on September 23, 2020. The anti-graft body filed the charge-sheet in the 
case on September 30, 2021. 

Though Azad's name was not initially included in the list of accused, it was 
later included in the charge-sheet as the investigating officer found his 
involvement during the investigation.

According to the case documents, the accused, under a mutual agreement, 
turned the unregistered and non-operational Regent Hospital into a Covid-
dedicated hospital by signing a memorandum of understanding. 

They tested samples of 3,939 people for Covid-19 at the National Institute of 
Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) free of cost while charging Taka 
3,500 from each person as a test fee and allegedly embezzling Taka 
1,37,86,500 in this way.

They are also accused of submitting a bill of Taka 1,96,20,000 as food 
allowance for doctors, nurses, ward boys and other officials and staff of 
Regent Hospital's Uttara and Mirpur branches.

The court on June 12, 2022, framed charges against the accused. A total of 12 
witnesses have, so far, testified in the case.