Published : 21 Aug 2023, 01:45 PM
Updated : 21 Aug 2023, 02:17 PM
A Dhaka court has sentenced Shahed Karim, chairman of Regent Hospital, to three years in jail in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Judge Pradeep Kumar Roy delivered the verdict on Monday. The court also fined him Tk 100,000 and asked him to pay the amount to the government treasury within 60 days.
“Shahed has been sentenced under Section 26 (2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004 as the allegation against him was proven. The court acquitted him of charges under Section 27 (1),” ACC counsel Mahmud Hossain Jahangir said.
Shahed was taken to the court to hear the verdict. He was sent back to jail after the announcement of the verdict. The court had previously set the date for delivering the verdict in the case after hearing arguments on Aug 10.
The Regent Hospital boss appeared impassive when the verdict was announced, according to the prosecutors.
According to the case dossier, the anti-graft commission asked Shahed to submit his asset declarations within 21 days on Nov 5, 2021. The commission extended the deadline by 15 days after Shahed failed to submit his accounts.
The commission later launched a probe against the Regent Hospital boss and brought an allegation against him of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 16.9 million.
The ACC started a case against Shahed over illegal wealth in 2021. The court opened the trial in the case after Shahed was indicted in 2022. All 10 witnesses in the case testified at different times.
Special Tribunal-1 Judge KM Imrul Kayes sentenced Shahed to life imprisonment in a case related to the illegal possession of firearms on Sept 28, 2020.
The sentence was meted out under section 19 (A) of the Firearms Act. Shahed was also handed seven years in prison under another provision of the Act. The two sentences were combined by the court to send Shahed to prison for life in the case.
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Shahed, charged with a series of frauds, including fake COVID-19 test reports issued by Regent Hospital, as he was reportedly trying to flee to India by boat on Jul 15, 2020.
He has since been implicated in 31 cases, with the charges ranging from fraudulence, possession of illegal arms and involvement in the drug trade.
Police seized a loaded pistol and drugs from a car Shahed used during a raid on a house in Uttara with him in tow on Jul 19 that year.
Two cases were subsequently started against Shahed with Uttara West Police Station under the arms law. He is now sued in 29 cases – 25 in Dhaka, and two each in Chattogram and Satkhira – mostly over fraudulence.
