Passports issued on fake papers

An internal probe has detected at least 170 official passports that the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) issued against fake no-objection certificates.

A three-member investigation committee found brokers, travel agents and human traffickers in league with a section of officials were involved in what appears to be the biggest ever passport forgery in the country.

It estimated that the number of such passports would be nearly 2,000.

The probe revealed how brokers had easy access to the passport office at the capital's Agargaon and influence on a section of officials and employees.

Though the presence of applicants is mandatory, it was the brokers who submitted the applications and the officials concerned accepted those without raising any question.

They prepared fake no-objection certificates (NOCs) bearing the names, signatures and seals of some officials of different government offices in Agargaon and other parts of the capital and in Faridpur.

About half the NOCs were issued using the name of Dr Uttam Kumer Barua of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital without his knowledge. In those NOCs, applicants were shown as employees of the hospital, says the probe report.

For other NOCs, the syndicate used the names of officials at Tax Commissioner's Office-5, Department of Housing and Public Works, Ministry of Shipping, Public Service Commission, Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation, Fire Service and Civil Defence and Divisional Forest Office in Faridpur.

Contacted by the probe body, the officials said the persons who got the official passports using the NOCs do not work in those offices.

Mostly, it was cleaners, peons, office assistants, ward boys, computer operators, students, cattle traders, shopkeepers and scrap material traders who got those official passports. For this, they paid huge sums to brokers, the committee learnt after talking to them.

The probe body also took statements of DIP officials and employees involved in the process. They said a government official or employee can get an official passport just by submitting an NOC with the application.

No police verification is required for them but officials and employees can, when in doubt, question the applicants to verify the NOCs.

“Brokers take the advantage of this flexibility,” said a DIP director.

Indicating an unusual rise in issuance of official passport in February and March this year, nearly 2,000 additional official passports were issued then, committee members and some DIP officials said.

They observed that the massive forgery was possible due to serious mismanagement and dominance of brokers in the Agargaon passport office.

The committee in its report said issuing of official passports through illegal means has contributed to human trafficking.  

The forgery could have been prevented had the officials concerned quizzed those who submitted the applications, read the report.

“Brokers submitted the applications in the absence of applicants, said record keeper Suman Roy, assistant directors Umme Kulsum and SM Shahjahan in their statements.”

Even, the applications have just vanished; possibly they were removed to hide the scum, according to the committee's findings.

The probe identified eight persons who were involved in the process of issuing the passports.

Formed on July 7, the three-member committee headed by DIP Director Shihab Uddin Khan submitted the report to DIP Director General Zeaul Alam in August but no step was taken in this regard so far, according to DIP officials.

The Daily Star found a copy of the report.

Although the forgery has been going for more than a year, it could not be detected by any government agencies or departments, said a probe committee member. 

It was the Turkish government who informed the foreign ministry about the matter in April after detaining three Bangladeshi nationals who were carrying the official passports, added the official.

In May, DIP director Munshi Mueed Ikram, assistant director SM Shahjahan, senior assistant Shahjahan Miah and office assistant M Saiful Islam were suspended for their links to the scam.

Some of those who gave statements to the probe body alleged that Mueed Ikram verbally cancelled the system of quizzing applicants about the NOC, added the report.

The DG of DIP could not be reached since he is now abroad.

Senior Home Secretary Md Mozammel Haque Khan said the ministry has taken the issue of official passport forgery seriously.

“We won't make any compromise. Stern action will be taken against those who are involved,” he told these correspondents last night. 

Asked if the number of such passports would be over 2,000, he said he didn't know exactly, but surely it's big.