National Ophthalmology Hospital loses Tk 20 million in software fraud

❐ Staff Reporter

Long-standing financial irregularities at the capital’s National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH) have finally come to light. An internal investigation has revealed that an office assistant at the institution embezzled nearly Tk 20 million through software manipulation and document forgery—a move that eluded the audit system.

The investigation revealed that the accused employee Riaz Uddin used to distort the calculations of the money collected from various services of the hospital—tickets, registration, tests, surgeries, cabins, blood collection and ambulance fees—in the software. The actual collection was kept secret and less money was deposited in the bank. At the same time, the discrepancies in the calculations were hidden by manipulating the bank invoices.

As a result, this fraud remains invisible for years as there is no effective system to reconcile actual income and deposit figures.

The incident began with an audit report, which initially revealed the non-deposit of Tk 8.6 million. Later, an internal investigation committee formed to examine the financial information for the last five years found that in just two fiscal years—2024-25 and 2025-26—a total of Tk 199,80,159 was not deposited in the state treasury.

Those involved in the investigation say that this number could increase further if the previous year’s accounts are also reviewed in depth.

Accused Riaz Uddin was arrested on March 9 and suspended on the same day. During interrogation, he confessed to embezzling the money, the investigation committee said.

The investigation further revealed that he used the embezzled money to buy land in Savar and collect gold ornaments. He even admitted to paying a bribe of about 2 million taka to keep information in the audit report secret.

But it doesn’t end here. During interrogation, Riaz Uddin claimed that several other officials of the organization were involved in this irregularity and took part in the deposited money. However, he could not provide any evidence to support this allegation. All the accused have denied the allegations and denied their involvement.

As a result, the question arises – is this a crime committed alone, or part of a larger cycle?

The investigation report mentioned that Riaz Uddin joined the bank in 2014 and was assigned the position of cashier as an additional responsibility in 2018. The irregularities started from then on.

In other words, those concerned are also raising questions about whether the lack of responsibility and oversight gave him this opportunity.

The incident is all the more significant because the embezzlement of such a large amount of money went on for a long time without being detected by institutional audit or oversight systems. It has also raised concerns about the security of government institutions’ financial management and software-based accounting systems.

Meanwhile, although a written complaint has been filed against the accused with the Anti-Corruption Commission, no visible action has been taken yet. As a result, uncertainty remains about the next steps of the investigation and the determination of liability.

The hospital authorities say that action will be taken as per the law under the guidance of the Ministry of Health. However, this incident has raised a big question – does blaming just one employee end the responsibility, or is it time to reconsider the institutional accountability and monitoring structure?