The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday arrested the chairman of JMI Group Md Abdur Razzak over allegedly supplying fake N-95 Masks to some government hospitals for the frontline fighters of Covid-19 including doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
He was arrested Tuesday afternoon from the Segunbagicha area in the capital by a team led by ACC Director Mir Zoynul Abedin Shibly.
Director of ACC (Public relations) Pranab Kumar Bhattachariya confirmed the matter to The Business Post.
ACC sources said Razzak will be produced before the court and the ACC will seek remand for him for further investigation.
On July 8, the ACC interrogated two businessmen including Razzak over alleged graft in supplying poor quality mask and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
A team led by Mir Zoynul Abedin Shibly, ACC director and head of the enquiry team, quizzed them from 10am to 4pm at its Segunbagicha office in the capital over the supply of 20 thousand fake N-95 Masks to ten hospitals, an alleged graft which was exposed by the directors of those hospitals as they expressed grievance that those fake N-95 Masks posed serious health hazards.
The ACC filed a case against seven persons including Abdur Razzak over allegations of embezzling money by supplying fake N-95 masks and on July 1, it summoned five businessmen for interrogation over the graft allegation.
On April 24, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare formed a committee to investigate the allegations of providing low-quality products including N-95 masks to some government hospitals.
Since June 10 until this day, the ACC has investigated the allegations of embezzling cores of money and acquiring illegal wealth by the officials of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) by supplying fake masks, downgraded PPE and other gadgets in hospitals.
The ACC on August 12 and 13 also interrogated former director-general of DGHS Dr Abul Kalam Azad over various corruption allegations including acquiring illegal wealth and purchasing lower grade PPE and other healthcare gadgets.
sh/teb