Health Minister Distances Himself From Relatives’ Firm Poised to Gain From No-Bid Tablet Deal

Investigation finds Tk 342 crore in welfare purchases went to a navy-run shipyard without open tendering; both ministers deny wrongdoing

Bangladesh’s health minister says he knows nothing about a private company owned by his brother’s children, even as an investigation reports that the firm is set to receive roughly Tk 64 crore from a government tablet purchase awarded without open tendering. The deal went to a navy-run shipyard under the social welfare ministry’s umbrella, Daily Waadaa reported on October 15.
The company is Burak Brake Ltd, registered in 2021 with an address in a Gulshan-2 apartment. Its owners are Sardar Rafin S A Hossain and his sister Anika Raidha Lia, nephew and niece of Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain Bakul. Their father, Sardar Tofazzal Hossain, who goes by Liakat, is the minister’s younger brother and a BNP vice-president in Narsingdi. The investigation found no earlier record of the firm supplying tablets. The minister and his brother do not appear as directors or signatories.
Waadaa also published photographs of Liakat inside the social welfare ministry with a navy officer while the purchase was being arranged. Liakat said he was there to discuss industries for people with disabilities, and denied talking about the contracts or introducing private firms.
The link to the tablet deal runs through a six-page agreement signed on August 24, a day after Dockyard and Engineering Works Ltd (DEW) won the Tk 320.71 crore order for 66,815 tablets. Under it, DEW keeps 4 percent, Salextra Ltd receives Tk 179.25 crore for imports, and Burak Brake takes the balance. Waadaa’s estimate for that balance, after a 20 percent tax deduction, is Tk 64.49 crore. It is an estimate, and the amount actually paid has not been confirmed.
The health minister told the outlet he was unaware of the company and of the ministry’s contract. He confirmed Rafin is his nephew but said he has no connection with him, and added that lawful business is no cause for objection. Social Welfare Minister Prof Dr A Z M Zahid Hossain said the work went to a navy institution at the lowest bid after due checks, that no law was broken, and that the Prime Minister had been briefed.
The procurement trail raises further questions. The tablet order went to DEW alone on August 6, and the evaluation committee opened, reviewed, and negotiated its offer in a single August 10 sitting. A secretary at the Posts and Telecommunications Division had earlier suggested buying from a state-owned manufacturer. A bank guarantee of about Tk 32.07 crore was issued on August 19 at Salextra’s request, four days before the contract was signed. A March 24 Prime Minister’s Office directive demanded prior approval for military-run firms joining public projects; no such approval was found in the records reviewed.
On cost, Waadaa says comparable tablets sell for Tk 14,000 to Tk 21,500 less per unit than the government’s Tk 48,000, a gap it puts at about Tk 93.5 crore against one model. Officials say the project devices are specialised. In the separate Tk 21.99 crore wheelchair order, an SGS inspection found major defects in 30 of 125 sampled chairs; that result does not speak for the whole shipment.
The report leaves open how much Burak Brake will actually earn and who decided on the sharing arrangement. Rules on disclosing beneficial owners exempt state-owned firms, and Burak Brake does not appear in the procurement file; its role emerged from the side agreement and company registration records. No court or investigating agency has issued a finding.