EC Recruitment Test Fraud: Over 2 months gone, no headway yet
Police are yet to arrest any of the 91 people involved in fraudulence -- proxy candidates and mediators -- in the recruitment test at the Election Commission Secretariat in the last two months.
The incident came to light after the viva voce for the post of office support staff of the EC started on July 17.
EC officials said they detained 41 candidates during the viva voce, and they all gave written statements to the authorities, confessing their involvement in the test fraud.
Their statements revealed that 41 proxies took the written and MCQ tests instead of real candidates, while 50 mediators were involved in the fraud.
Nazmul Kabir, senior assistant secretary (personnel management-2) of the EC Secretariat, filed 23 cases with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station from July 18 to August 31 in this connection, accusing 47 people.
In the cases, Nazmul stated that seven named and 34 unnamed proxy candidates took the tests.
The 41 arrested candidates made contracts of total Tk 3.59 crore with different people and paid Tk 1.44 crores to them, according to the cases' statements.
"We have no new arrests in these cases. Police are working to identify the culprits behind the recruitment test fraud," said Mohammad Imran Hossain, assistant commissioner of DMP (Tejgaon zone).
"Some people from the EC may have direct involvement in recruitment test fraud. The candidates' attendance sheets included their images. If any candidate resorted to cheating in the exam room, then the invigilators concerned should have caught them. Why couldn't they do so?" said a police official involved in the investigation, wishing anonymity.
Nazmul said, "We only filed cases. Police are responsible to dig out who was behind the recruitment forgery."
"If someone from the Election Commission is involved, let the police find out. We held those candidates, who committed fraud, and handed them over to the police. We are not informed what progress police made in the cases in over two months. We want the culprits arrested soon," he added.
HOW THE FRAUDULENCE WAS UNEARTHED
Hafizur Rahman, 31, of Satkhira's Asashuni applied for the post of office support staff at the EC Secretariat one and half years ago.
On July 17 afternoon, he appeared at the EC office in the capital's Agargaon for viva voce among candidates who passed in both MCQ and written examinations, separately held on March 31 and May 19.
However, Hafizur could not answer any questions from the written examinations when the recruitment board of the viva voce asked him those. When his handwriting was matched with the handwriting of the written examination answer sheet, those also did not match.
Hafizur then admitted to the board members that he did not participate in the MCQ and written examinations.
He also told the EC officials that an unidentified person, mediated by two others -- Pallab Hossain and Sohag -- participated in his tests. In return, a contract of Tk 5 lakh was made with the said person.
Interestingly, 38 more candidates who passed in both MCQ and written examinations, and two more who passed only in written tests, were found to have the same story as Hafizur, and were thereby detained after the viva voce.
According to court records, some 43 people, including 41 candidates, were arrested in connection with the fraud cases and produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka from July 17 to August 31.
Of the 41 arrested candidates, 34 applied for the post of office support staff, while three for office assistant/computer typist, two for storekeeper, one for security guard and another one for the post of cleaner.