Most of the inquiries and investigations launched by the Anti-Corruption Commission into health-sector corruption and irregularities unearthed amid the Covid situation in the past year have now been put off.
Several ACC officials, who were investigating the corruption allegations and cases, told that they had been instructed to go slow with the probes as there was a possibility of disruptions in the Covid-related health services as a result of the watchdog’s operations.
They said that some influential quarters had convinced the commission that health service providers, including physicians and equipment suppliers, might suspend work if they felt the commission steps as ‘excess’.
Commission secretary Md Anwar Hossain Howlader, however, denied the allegation saying that the inquiries and investigations were facing delays for various reasons.
‘The lockdown situation and the transition of the commission are the major reasons for the slow progress of the inquiries and investigations,’ he told Tuesday.
He also said that the commission would soon take a move to expedite its anti-corruption activities.
According to ACC officials, the latest visible move taken by the commission was in February when two cases were filed against suspended Directorate General of Health Services driver Abdul Malek and his wife over their alleged accumulation of illegal wealth.
The officials said that the commission overlooked the allegation that a section of the candidates for jobs under the health agency had paid Tk 15 to Tk 20 lakh each to pass the written examination in the second half of the past year.
The issue came under the commission’s scrutiny after it was reported at the daily Prothom Alo by its reporter Rozina Islam.
They said that instead of launching an inquiry into the corruption allegation the commission sent a letter in April to the DGHS to investigate the allegation.
After Covid-related procurement and other health sector irregularities were unmasked by the media and other sources from March in the past year, the commission has launched several inquiries, including into the N-95 mask scandal, Covid test forgery and various fund embezzlement incidents, the officials said.
The then ACC chairman, Iqbal Mahmood, made several statements saying that the commission took a hard line against health sector corruption.
The commission in July 2020, according to officials, made a list of over 100 people involved in various corruption incidents and irregularities in the health sector as these had been in discussion since the beginning of the novel coronavirus crisis.
The commission made the list based on findings of its own intelligence unit and other agencies of the government, they said.
They further said that the commission officials found primary evidence of corruption by eight high officials of the health ministry and the DGHS, 20 government physicians, principals of five medical colleges and 70 mid-level officials of the health agency.
They were allegedly involved in various corruption incidents, including recruitment irregularities, tender forgeries, purchase-related wrongdoings and illegal involvement in business and accumulation of illegal wealth, ACC officials said.
About the situation, former caretaker government adviser M Hafizuddin Khan told that such suspension of inquiries and investigations in the interest of unscrupulous quarters could be a reason for the ruination of the health sector.
‘Surrendering to corrupt people in such a way is alarming for the society. The commission should complete the investigations quickly,’ he added.
The commission on September 29, 2020 arrested JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing Limited chairman M Abdur Razzak just after prosecuting him along with six current and former Central Medical Stores Depot officials on charge of supplying fake N95 masks to the depot.
In August last the commission interrogated former DGHS director general Abul Kalam Azad twice over his alleged involvement in the N95 mask scam and the Regent Hospital scam.
But he was not accused in any of the cases in this regard.
On July 21, 2020 Azad resigned amid widespread criticism over massive irregularities in the country’s health sector, exposed one after another during the current COVID-19 crisis.
The health ministry and the DGHS traded blames as law enforcement agencies unearthed a series of COVID-19 test report forgery scams involving several private hospitals.
On July 13, 2020 the ACC launched an inquiry into Regent Hospital owner Shahed Karim on charge of accumulating illegal wealth through various fraudulent businesses and activities.
According to ACC officials, the commission is currently conducting investigations into over a dozen cases and inquiries into at least 45 corruption allegations in the health sector.-New Age
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