Bangladesh
JKG Scam High Court refuses to grant bail to JKG Scam tainted Sabrina
Dhaka, 04 November 2020: The chairman of JKG Health Care Dr. Sabrina Arif did not get bail from the High Court in the case of forgery of coronavirus sample test involving JGK Healthcare. Her application was rejected on Tuesday, by a virtual bench comprising of judges Md. Rezaul Haque and Justice Md. Atowar Rahman.
Lawyer Munsurul Haque Chowdhury appeared for the petitioner in the court.
Deputy Attorney General Saifuddin Khaled was present at the hearing on behalf of the state.
Court sources said, on September 15 in the lower court Dr. Sabrina Arif's bail application was rejected and she applied for bail in the High Court. The court dismissed his application on the ground that it had not been raised.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarafuzzaman Anshari on August 20 ordered the trial of eight people, including Sabrina and her husband JKG Healthcare CEO Ariful Haque Chowdhury.
The other accused in the case are Abu Saeed Chowdhury, Humayun Kabir Himu, Tanjila Patwari, Biplob Das, Shafiqul Islam Romeo and Jebunnesa.
JKG Health Care, an organization of the Oval Group, took the responsibility of collecting samples for testing by applying to the Department of Health amid the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
But in late June, allegations surfaced that JKG was taking money from two sites, Booking BD and Healthcare, with permission from the government to collect free samples. They were also giving fake certificates to the patients without testing the samples.
Police arrested Humayun Kabir Hiru, a former graphic designer of JKG Healthcare, and his wife Tanjin Patwari on June 22 after finding the allegations of Kamal Hossain, a caretaker of a house in the capital's Kalyanpur, to be true.
Later, fake reports of coronavirus tests made in the names of 43 people, including four expatriates, were found from their computers.
The next day, Kamal Hossain filed a case against the two at Tejgaon police station. There are allegations of embezzlement using government names, risk of spreading life-threatening diseases through negligence at work, and forgery of coronavirus certificates.
Based on information received from Humayun and his wife, Tejgaon police later arrested seven people, including JKG CEO Ariful Chowdhury and his sister Jebunnesa. Later on July 12, the doctor of the National Heart Institute. Sabrina was also arrested.
On August 5, DB inspector Liaquat Ali filed a chargesheet against the accused in the Dhaka CMM court. Then on 20 August the complaint was framed.
