Why pandemic vaccine vendor Salman F Rahman faces an ACC probe

On 8 March 2020, Bangladesh confirmed its first Covid-19 case, and the nation braced for impact. Ten days later, the first death occurred, triggering widespread panic. Dhaka, typically a vibrant city filled with traffic and activity, fell into an unsettling stillness. Streets emptied, shops closed, and livelihoods disappeared abruptly. Fear became so intense that families often refused to handle the bodies of their deceased loved ones, even for burial.

Amid this fear and paralysis, however, one individual acted decisively. While others perceived only death, he recognised an opportunity.

Salman F Rahman, vice chairman of Beximco Group and then private industry and investment adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, emerged as a key player in Bangladesh's vaccine procurement drive. His company Beximco Pharmaceuticals was handed an exclusive contract – without any tender or competition – to import 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.

It was a deal that raised eyebrows but nobody was there to question it.

For every dose imported, Beximco made a clean profit of Tk77. This was after all costs – logistics, transportation, and overhead – had been accounted for.

The numbers, however, told a starker story. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, Bangladesh ended up paying more than Tk1,550 per dose – by far the highest price among neighbouring countries. For comparison, India paid Tk439 per dose, Nepal Tk362, and the Maldives Tk447.

For Bangladesh, the two doses needed to inoculate one person cost Tk3,178. Across the border, India vaccinated its citizens for less than a third of that amount.

When questions surfaced about this glaring disparity, the answers were evasive. The then boss of the Directorate General of Health Services, Dr Abdul Basar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the DG, deflected responsibility.

He told reporters that it was the Ministry of Health that had negotiated the deal, and that the terms were bound by a non-disclosure agreement. The then health minister echoed the same line in parliament when MPs pressed for clarity. The price, he said, could not be disclosed.

But numbers spoke louder than any statements.

As the vaccines arrived and the nation's nerves calmed, Beximco's fortunes soared. Its pharmaceutical unit's share price shot up to Tk255 from Tk136 within 11 months of the vaccine deal. It was a windfall born in a time of national despair.

From vaccine king to ACC radar

Salman was hailed as the man who delivered hope when fear paralysed the nation. But now, he is under the scanner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The ACC has formally decided to launch an inquiry into allegations that a powerful syndicate, led by Salman and a handful of others, syphoned off Tk22,000 crore of public funds during the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

The announcement came yesterday afternoon from ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain. Briefing journalists, Akhtar said the inquiry is based on a complaint filed by Moidul Islam, an official at the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC).

Moidul said the health department in its advertisements initially said the Sinopharm vaccine cost the government $100 per dose, later a government committee approved the same at $10.

"This is how vaccine procurement was corrupted," said Moidul. 

According to the complaint, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, where Salman F Rahman serves as vice chairman, was inserted as a third-party supplier in Bangladesh's deal to procure 3 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute. The inclusion, it is alleged, was done without justification – violating government procurement protocols and effectively inflating the price Bangladesh paid for each dose.

And the numbers are staggering.

A crime against humanity?

The complaint claims that had the government dealt directly with the Serum Institute, the savings could have secured an additional 6.8 million vaccine doses – doses that might have mattered in a country scrambling for immunity.

"Covid-19 global vaccine allocation is based on power, first mover advantage, and the ability to pay," peer-reviewed medical journal BMJ wrote in an article on 16 August 2021.

The article titled "Profiteering from vaccine inequity: a crime against humanity?" said the moral scandal, enabled by corporate and political permission of mass death, is "tantamount to a crime against humanity". 

Meanwhile, it was not the first time questions have swirled around the vaccine deal. 

Back in August 2022, then health minister Zahid Maleque revealed that the government had already spent Tk40,000 crore on vaccines and related expenses – a sum that raised eyebrows but drew no formal scrutiny. Transparency International Bangladesh then opined that the sum should not have crossed Tk18,000 crore.

ACC's Akhtar Hossain was cautious when asked about the specifics. "It is not possible to provide details on how these funds were embezzled at this moment," he said. "We will share further information after the investigation."

Alongside Salman F Rahman, several high-profile officials have been named in the complaint as part of the alleged corrupt syndicate. Among them are former health minister Zahid Maleque, health secretary Lokman Hossain, BMRC chairman Professor Modasser Ali, and Ahmed Kaikaus, the former principal secretary to the prime minister.

Blocking Bangavax

The complaint alleges that this syndicate deliberately obstructed the approval process for Bangavax, a locally developed Covid-19 vaccine by Globe Biotech. The authorities repeatedly demanded unnecessary documents and imposed trivial conditions, stalling the vaccine's progress for months.

By the time Bangavax was finally granted approval for clinical trials in July 2022, the pandemic had largely subsided – and the opportunity for meaningful contribution had passed.

"Half a dozen letters to the Prime Minister's Office yielded no results," the complaint claims. "Instead, Globe Biotech's offices were attacked, and its researchers received threats from various quarters."

Salman F Rahman, according to the complaint, had pressured Globe Biotech to share its formula and technology, offering a partnership for manufacturing and marketing through Beximco. Globe refused. And then, as the complaint suggests, they were left to endure the consequences – silently absorbing the blows from what was described as "the most powerful man in the country at the time".

Globe Biotech Chairman Md Harunur Rashid told TBS, "We even tried for the approval of the clinical trial offering 40% income to Beximco, but Salman eyed taking away the technology from us.

"Our vaccine was one of the first three WHO-enlisted ones in March 2020 and the project costing us around Tk400 crore failed due to the lack of cooperation from the then government."

For Salman F Rahman, the man who once positioned himself as a saviour in Bangladesh's darkest hour, the tables seem to be turning. As investigators dig into the Tk22,000 crore trail, a simple question lingers in the public mind: how much did salvation cost, and who really paid the price?