Covid-19 certificate scam: JKG chairman Sabrina, 7 others awarded 11-yr jail

A Dhaka court on Tuesday awarded JKG Healthcare’s chairman Dr Sabrina Sharmin Hussain, her husband Ariful Haque Chowdhury and six others 11-year imprisonment each in connection with a case filed for issuing fake coronavirus certificates.

Dhaka’s Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Tofazzal Hossain passed the order this noon in presence of all the accused in the courtroom.

Apart from Sabrina and Ariful, other convicts are – Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, Humayun Kabir Himu, his wife Tanzina Patwari, Shafiqul Islam, Biplab Das and Jebunnesa Rima.

The magistrate also fined the convicts Tk 11,000 each, in default of which they will have to stay 11 months more in jail.

In the judgment, Tofazzal Hossain said the prosecution became able to prove the charge brought against them authentic and thus he handed down the punishment.

The time that the convicts have already spent in jail will be deducted from their jail sentence, stated the judgment.

Earlier on June 29, the Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Magistrate court fixed July 19 to announce the verdict on completion of the arguments from both state and defence sides.

Earlier, police called Sabrina to the office of Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) for interrogation.

She failed to give any satisfactory answers to the queries of the investigators, and was later shown arrested in a case filed with Tejgaon Police Station on June 23.

The case was filed accusing six persons, including Ariful Haque Chowdhury, chief executive officer of the JKG Health Care, and also the husband of Sabrina, of making fake Covid-19 test reports.

On June 23, the law enforcers also arrested six persons, including Humayun Kabir, and his wife Tanjina Patwary from JKG healthcare office of Confidence Tower in Gulshan in this connection.

Though Dr Sabrina denied being the chairman of JKG which provided thousands of fake Covid-19 reports without conducting tests of the collected samples, her husband Ariful provided detailed information about her involvement in the scam to the police.

JKG Health Care Chairman Dr Sabrina came to the spotlight as their company’s false corona report scam surfaced.

The CEO of the organisation and Sabrina’s husband Arif Chowdhury and six others were sent to jail on deception charges.