The testimony of witnesses in a corruption case against Regent Hospital chairman Shahed Karim, former Directorate General of Health Services director general Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad and six others was deferred on Wednesday as no witness appeared before the court.

Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 Judge Md Zakaria Hossain fixed October 4 for the next hearing after the Anti-Corruption Commission prosecutor sought time due to the absence of witnesses.

Shahed, who is in jail, was produced before the court. The other accused, who are out on bail, also appeared in court.

The other accused are former DGHS director Aminul Hasan, deputy director (Hospital-1) Yunus Ali, assistant director (Hospital-1) Shafiur Rahman and research officer Didarul Islam.

Farid Ahmed Patwary filed the case with the ACC’s Dhaka Integrated District Office-1 on September 23, 2020. Following an investigation, ACC deputy director Farid Ahmed Patwary submitted a charge sheet against six people on September 30, 2021.

Although former DGHS director general Abul Kalam Azad was not initially named as an accused, his name came up during the investigation and was included in the charge sheet.

The case alleges that the accused, acting in collusion, converted the unrenewed Regent Hospital into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital and signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate free testing of Covid-19 samples at the government-run National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine.

According to the charge, 3,939 Covid-19 samples were tested at NIPSOM, and Regent Hospital charged Tk 3,500 per sample, amounting to Tk 1.3786 crore.

The accused were also alleged to have sought Tk 1.962 crore in monthly food expenses for doctors, nurses, ward boys and other staff of Regent Hospital’s Mirpur and Uttara branches and taken steps to send a draft of the demand to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The court framed charges against the accused on June 12, 2022, formally beginning the trial.

So far, the court has recorded the testimony of 12 witnesses in the case.