The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday approved the filing of a regular case against former Managing Director of Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL) Dr Ehsanul Kabir and six others on charges of abuse of power and fraud.

Deputy Director and Public Relations Officer of ACC Aktarul Islam said the accused illegally appointed five officials on a contractual basis without prior approval from the EDCL Board of Directors.

He said this caused financial losses of more than Tk 36 crore to the state-owned company through collusion and misuse of authority.

The other accused are Muhammad Khurshid Alam, former Finance Director and Company Secretary; Syed Bahir Uddin Jamal, former General Manager (Procurement); Md Shawkat Ali, former Deputy General Manager (Procurement); A. Kaiyum Khan, former Deputy General Manager (Store); and Bikash Kumar Sarkar, former Manager (Production) of EDCL.

The ACC has formed an investigation team led by Assistant Director Nurul Islam, with Sub-Assistant Director A.M. Taher as a member, to probe the allegations.

Meanwhile, the ACC has also decided to initiate a separate investigation against the current EDCL Managing Director M. Samad Mridha, a US citizen, over allegations of large-scale corruption and money laundering.

The complaint alleges that Mridha, in collusion with a syndicate, embezzled crores of taka from the state exchequer through rigged tenders, fake competition, nepotism, and commission fraud in procuring hormonal drug raw materials including ‘Desogestrel USP’.

The commission said significant sums of money were laundered abroad through entities named Mark Allrise International and Reliance Trade International.

ACC officials said investigators have been appointed based on documentary evidence and that restrictions on the accused’s foreign travel will remain in force until the investigation is completed.