RAB helicopters Shahed to Dhaka after arrest in Satkhira over COVD-19 test scam

Regent Hospital Chairman Mohammad Shahed, who was involved in a COVID-19 test scam that roiled Bangladesh’s healthcare sector, has been brought to Dhaka after his arrest near Satkhira’s Debhata frontier.

Members of RAB with Shahed in their custody reached the old airport in Dhaka around 9 am by helicopter.

Afterwards, he was taken to the RAB headquarters under heavy security.

Shahed was being hounded by law-enforcement agencies after it emerged that his hospitals swindled thousands of unsuspecting patients out of millions of takas on the pretext of coronavirus treatment.

The RAB sealed off the headquarters and two branches of Regent Hospital in Dhaka. It also initiated a case against 17 people, including Shahed, on charges of issuing fake COVID-19 test reports and other irregularities.

The case alleges that the hospital authorities duped nearly 6,000 patients out of Tk 20.1 million by issuing fake coronavirus tests reports even though it was supposed to provide free treatment for COVID-19. They later billed Tk 19.6 million to the health directorate.

Shahed has allegedly embezzled billions by defrauding ordinary people through his microcredit and MLM business, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The commission decided to open a probe after it received complaints that Shahed amassed a fortune through multi-layered fraudulence, embezzlement of government funds, evading taxes as well as borrowing from banks using fake identities.