How Shahed built an empire of fraud using friends in high places

He had weaseled his way into the circle of society's power brokers without much of a struggle, all the while keeping his shady business dealings and implication in dozens of fraud cases under wraps.

His Facebook page is inundated with selfies alongside ministers, MPs and government high-ups.

Mohammed Shahed, alias Shahed Karim, the chairman of Regent Group, is now 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 Rapid Action Battalion or RAB has already 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.

It was Shahed's influence that had previously foiled the efforts of patients and their families to lodge complaints against the hospital. But the veil on his misdeeds is now being lifted following the closure of the hospital.

Once jailed for fraudulence, Shahed, who holds multiple fake identities, made it into the ruling Awami League's central sub-committee on the basis of his 'friendship' with people of influence.

His network of 'friends', encompassing senior leaders of the Awami League and big shots in the BNP, is now coming to light.

Shahed was reportedly a close aide of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Kashem Ali, hanged for committing war crimes, and Giasuddin Al Mamun, now in prison for corruption.

Some journalists, too, are now under fire for patronising Shahed, a regular face on TV talk-shows.

A 'fraudster' such as Shahed with access to important places poses a significant threat to national security, according to retired Lt Gen Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy, a security analyst.

"As a professional, I worked to ensure the security of the people, state and persons of national importance. I believe such incidents pose a great threat to national security. There should be more focus on this," he told bdnews24.com

THE RISE OF SHAHED

Shahed arrived in Dhaka from Satkhira near the end of his school days. His mother Safia Karim had once been involved with the Mahila Awami League, locals said.

Two years after his arrest on charges of fraud in 2009, Shahed allegedly duped millions of takas out of people through a multi-layer marketing business at Dhanmondi.

Later, he established Regent Group by using his influence on powerful people. Besides the hospital, the company also operates a college and university alongside real estate and hotel businesses.

The extent of Shahed's connection with political leaders as well as with different government bodies is now coming to light.

"How could a man deceive all of the intelligence agencies, law-enforcement and other government bodies? It shows how well he nurtured a relationship with all," Sarwardy wrote in a Facebook post.

He shared his experience of meeting Shahed last December.

“I met him at Dhaka airport while coming from Chattogram when he claimed to be the head of the SDG affairs at the prime minister's office as Abul Kalam Azad's replacement. I found it to be completely false later. Some of the police and Ansars greeted him.”

Shahed sometimes introduced himself under different names, including Major Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Col Iftekhar Ahmmad Chowdhury or Maj Shahed Karim, Sarwardy added.

“But his national ID bears the name Shahed Karim. He uses another NID with the number 2692618145885 issued on 25-08-2008.”

“According to the NID details, his mother had died much earlier than the actual date of her passing which was on Nov 6, 2010. This is fake information too.”

Raised in a low-income family, Shahed amassed a fortune worth billions through corruption and fraudulence. He served two years in jail alongside Giasuddin Al Mamun during the rule of the army-backed caretaker government.

After being released, Shahed embezzled Tk 5 billion from ordinary people through his MLM network called BDS Click1. He was known as Maj Iftekhar Karim Chowdhury at the time, Sarwardy wrote.

“He is named in 32 cases, including two in Dhanmondi, one in Barishal and eight in Uttara. He used to threaten people by claiming to be a close aide of ministers and others high-ups.”

“Shahed has been fraudster all along. I met him a year and a half ago. He issued a work order worth Tk 300,000 to me for repairing the lifts in his hospital. When I realised that the extent of the work was greater and asked for another Tk 200,000, he told me to keep working,” said SM Raju, owner of Resource Elevator in Uttara.

“I chased after him for several months for payment as he paid only Tk 50,000 to me after I finished the work. He verbally abused me when I took an Awami League leader with me to get my money. Finally, I received Tk 300,000 of Tk 500,000.”

Jahangir Alam, former marketing officer of Regent Hospital resigned from his post after seven months but only received a month's salary.

“Every time I asked for my salary, Shahed told me to continue working without talking about it.’

CONNECTION WITH JOURNALISTS

Shahed recently started a newspaper named Notun Kagoj of which he is the editor and publisher. He also claimed to be the senior vice president of Uttara Media Club.

Many have pointed the finger at a quarter of journalists for abetting Shahed's misdeeds.

“Now you look for the media promoters, the political patrons of Shahed, owner of Regent Hospital responsible for the coronavirus scam,” journalist Anis Alamgir wrote on Facebook.

“Looking at the academic and career profile of the media managers in Bangladesh, a photograph with Shahed will never seem to be ‘inappropriate,’ wrote journalist Gazi Nasiruddin Ahmed.

“Those who invite an accused in 32 fraudulence cases to the talk shows, should be brought to trial too,” wrote Robin Ahsan of Shrabon Prakashoni.

“Authorities should find out those promoting Shahed. I hope the offender from the BNP will soon be expelled from the Awami League central sub-committee,” wrote Rudra Saiful, as he shared a magazine clip featuring a photo of Shahed with BNP leader Abdullah Al Noman and former BNP leader Barrister Nazmul Huda.