Missions Abroad: ACC moves to probe passport fee 'scam'

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday formed a three-member committee to investigate alleged misappropriation of Tk 3,786 crore received in passport and visa processing fees by 65 Bangladesh missions abroad.

Based on the report published in The Daily Star on June 18, the ACC formed the committee, led by ACC Director Syed Iqbal Hossain, to probe how officials embezzled the money, misusing power, said a source of the anti-graft body.

The foreign ministry owed the home ministry over Tk 1,586 crore for hand-written passports delivered between 2000 and 2016. During this period, Bangladesh embassies and missions distributed over 30 lakh hand-written passports.

The home ministry was supposed to get about Tk 2,052 crore the foreign ministry collected for Machine Readable Passport (MRP) between 2010 and 2016. During the time, Bangladesh missions abroad delivered nearly 30 lakh MRPs.

It was also to get Tk 148 crore the foreign ministry received from Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fees between 2012 and 2016.

“The committee has been asked to submit the probe report within 30 working days,” said the ACC source.

In another development, the commission yesterday decided to file a case against former director (additional) Prof Nizamudding Faruk of Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital and its administrative officer Abdul Jalil Mia for irregularities in the recruitment of office assistants.

In the enquiry, the anti-graft body found that a circular was issued on February 9, 2015, with the names of 20 office assistants who had been appointed.

But on the same day, another circular was issued, in which two names were replaced.

Nizamuddin and Jalil were signatories of both the circulars.

It appears that the two misused their power and were involved in irregularities in recruitment, said an ACC source.