ACC investigates into Salman F Rahman on charges of Tk 220bn embezzlement

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has kicked off an investigation into former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's advisor and Beximco Pharma Vice-Chairman Salman F Rahman over allegations of embezzling Tk 220 billion in the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

The anti-graft watchdog's Director General Akhtar Hossain announced the development on Monday.

"The commission has decided to investigate allegations that an unscrupulous syndicate, including Salman F Rahman, Beximco Pharma Ltd, and others, misappropriated Tk 220 billion in state funds under the guise of Covid-19 vaccine procurement," he said.

Former health minister Zahid Maleque, health secretary Lokman Hossain, former BMRC chairman Modasser Ali, former principal secretary to the prime minister Ahmad Kaikaus, and other officials are also in the ACC's crosshairs.

According to a formal complaint submitted to the commission, irregularities occurred in the purchase of 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute.

The complaint alleged that government procurement regulations were violated as the vaccines were purchased through a tripartite agreement between the Bangladesh government, Beximco Pharma, and Serum Institute -- without a competitive bidding process. Had the government directly purchased from Serum, it could have saved costs and secured an additional 6.8 million doses. Beximco Pharma allegedly netted a profit of Tk 77 per dose after importing 70 million doses at a market price of Tk 425 per dose, which cost the government around Tk 2.97 billion.

Irregularities were also flagged in the procurement of 3.15 million doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine. The price was recorded at $100 per dose, despite a government committee approving the purchase at $10 per dose. The complaint also noted that the cost of government-run Covid-19 testing was significantly higher than private-sector healthcare services.

It further alleges that Bangladesh's locally developed Covid-19 vaccine, Bangavax, faced repeated red tapes in securing approval. It claims that regulatory obstacles were deliberately created to prevent Globe Biotech from marketing the vaccine, and approval for clinical trial was intentionally delayed. It is alleged that the vaccine was blocked because Globe Biotech did not share its technology with Salman's Beximco Group.

Salman is currently in jail, facing multiple charges stemming from the anti-discrimination protests that toppled the Awami League government last year.

He has been implicated in cases related to murders across different parts of Dhaka and has undergone multiple rounds of police remand.

The ACC has also filed several cases against him for illegal wealth accumulation and loan fraud.

A Covid 19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid 19).

Knowledge about the structure and function of previous coronaviruses causing diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) accelerated the development of various vaccine platforms in early 2020. In 2020, the first Covid 19 vaccines were developed and made available to the public through emergency authorizations and conditional approvals. However, immunity from the vaccines was found to wane over time, requiring people to get booster doses of the vaccine to maintain protection against Covid 19.

The Covid 19 vaccines are widely credited for their role in reducing the spread of Covid 19 and reducing the severity and death caused by Covid 19. Many countries implemented phased distribution plans that prioritized those at highest risk of complications, such as the elderly, and those at high risk of exposure and transmission, such as healthcare workers.

Common side effects of Covid 19 vaccines include soreness, redness, rash, inflammation at the injection site, fatigue, headache, myalgia (muscle pain), and arthralgia (joint pain), which resolve without medical treatment within a few days. Covid 19 vaccination is safe for people who are pregnant or are breastfeeding.

As of 12 August 2024, 13.72 billion doses of Covid 19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, based on official reports from national public health agencies. By December 2020, more than 10 billion vaccine doses had been preordered by countries, with about half of the doses purchased by high-income countries comprising 14% of the world's population.

Despite the extremely rapid development of effective mRNA and viral vector vaccines, worldwide vaccine equity has not been achieved. The development and use of whole inactivated virus (WIV) and protein-based vaccines have also been recommended, especially for use in developing countries.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19.

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