17 days gone, no trace of 17 files missing
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“The CCTV camera remained dysfunctional from long before the incident took place. We could not make any headway. We have prepared our report with some recommendations to prevent such incident in future,” Ahsanul Kabir, a member of the three-member probe committee, told The Daily Star on Thursday.
He also said that the probe report was supposed to be submitted on Thursday.
However, The Daily Star could not confirm whether the report was submitted as neither the probe body chief nor the secretary of the medical education division could be reached over the phone.
Azad Rahman, additional superintendent police of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), told The Daily Star recently, “We could not unearth anything till now. We haven’t yet closed the investigation.”
CID officials who interrogated the staffers of the health ministry said they believed that someone had stolen the files. But they could not proceed with the further investigation as the ministry has yet to file any case.
“Your valuables have been stolen from your house and if you don’t want to file a case...what can we do? During our investigation, none of the staffers opened up. We could not detain or arrest any of them to investigate further. It’s now up to the health ministry,” a CID official, wishing not to be named, told The Daily Star.
Asked if any senior official would be interrogated, he said that it’s still uncertain as there are some government protocols to follow.
During the “shadow investigation”, CID interrogated at least nine staffers of the health ministry and a Rajshahi-based contractor, but still could not find anything conclusive over the missing files.
Regarding not filing the case, Shah Alam said, “I think there is no need to file any case from the ministry. Police can turn the general diary into a case.”
Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder told The Daily Star that people have every right to know what happened in the file missing incident and why such things happened in such a secured place.
“The health ministry is primarily responsible for the incident. It is unfortunate that no case has been filed in this regard to date. The health ministry cannot avoid its responsibility. Secondly, as a crime took place, police itself can file a case but they also did not file any.”
He said the “blame game” will not bring any result.
TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the file missing incident “could not be anything but an inside job”.
“Now the failure to take any action after so many days, including the non-disclosure of the findings of the investigations, only reaffirms that the lifting of documents has taken place through collusion and in all likelihood with direct involvement of a section of the officials or staff of the ministry who stand to gain by hiding the files,” he said.
Iftekharuzzaman also said that the issue is more important because the files reportedly relate to procurement and those who designed this may have been involved in some corruption and violation of the relevant rules.
“The failure to take action also raises an ominous concern that a section of the higher authorities may have vested interest to protect the perpetrators,” he added.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said stern action would be taken based on the ministry’s probe report.
“No one involved in the file missing incident will be spared,” he said.
Asked why the case was not filed, the minister said, “One general diary was filed and it can be turned into a case any time. But we are waiting for the probe report. You will see quick action soon.”
The health ministry filed a general diary (GD) with the Shahbagh Police Station about the missing files on October 28.
The dockets included purchase documents related to Shaheed Taj Uddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, the National Institute of Population Research and Training’s data on breast and cervical cancer screening programmes and purchases, vehicle purchase of different training schools, according to the GD.
Besides, the missing files include the documents of the Directorate of Nursing and Midwifery and the Directorate of Medical Education.
Md Joseph Sardar and Ayesha Siddiqa, computer operators of the purchase and collection-2 section at the medical education division, noticed 17 files have gone missing from their file cabinet.
The files were kept in room-29 of building-3 at the secretariat, adjacent to the room of Shahdat Hossain, additional secretary (development) of the medical education and family welfare division of the ministry.
In the afternoon, the ministry filed the general diary with the Shahbagh police station.
The health ministry formed a probe body, led by Md Shah Alam, additional secretary (administration) of the health education division, on October 30. The committee was asked to submit their report within five working days.
A team of CID visited the spot and picked up six staffers of the health ministry for interrogation on October 31. Later, CID also interrogated four other people including a contractor of Rajshahi.