A Dhaka court has extended the bail for former health directorate chief Abul Kalam Azad to January 23, 2022 in a case filed over the Regent Hospital scam.
Dhaka Senior Special Judge KM Emrul Kayes passed the order on Tuesday after Azad sought extension of his permanent bail in the case.
Earlier on October 7, the same court granted him ad-interim bail, which remained valid till Tuesday.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had charged the former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Regent Hospital Chairman Mohammad Shahed and four others with embezzlement of government funds over the scandal.
After a yearlong investigation, the graft watchdog filed the charges in court on September 30, when the investigating officer pleaded to the court to issue a warrant for Azad, who was listed as a fugitive in the chargesheet.
The others charged in the case are former DGHS director (Hospitals and Clinics) Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director (Hospital-1) Md Younus Ali, Assistant Director (Hospital-1) Md Shafiur Rahman and Research Officer Md Didarul Islam.
Azad was not named in the case initially but the chargesheet added his name after the probe. He is accused of signing a Covid-19 treatment deal with Regent, an unlicensed hospital.
The ACC started the case against Regent Group Chairman Shahed and four others on September 22 last year.
According to the case documents, the accused converted Regent Hospital, which is now shut down, into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital without renewing its licence.
The ACC accuses them of embezzling more Tk1.37 crore by testing samples of Covid-19 patients at the lab of the state-owned National Institutes of Preventive and Social Medicine (Nipsom).
They also stand accused of illegally collecting Tk1.96 crore a month as food allowance for doctors, nurses and other officials of the hospital.
