‘Just a tip of the iceberg’

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has called for an impartial, fair and thorough investigation in quickest possible time into the recruitment of 18 constables in Narayanganj two years ago through massive fraud and possible bribery.

"The recruitment of police constables in Narayanganj through massive fraud and possible bribery is an unforgivable and heinous crime; which risks exacerbating the erosion of confidence in law enforcing agencies," TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said in a press release yesterday.

The Daily Star ran the report yesterday.

He said unless punishment is ensured to perpetrators through a fair and impartial investigation into the incident, it will not be possible to prevent the reckless recurrence of such irregularities in the future and the perpetrators will become more daring.

"This will further erode public trust and confidence in the law enforcement agencies," said Iftekharuzzaman.

So it is imperative that the culprits be brought to justice as soon as possible through a proper investigation and that the investigation report be made public.

The TIB executive director said according to media sources, there had been massive irregularities and forgery in verification of documents and police verifications in recruitment of constables in Narayanganj district quota in 2019 which came up in an investigation by the Police Headquarters in 2020. 

According to the investigation report published in the media recently, evidence of recruiting at least 18 constables by submitting fake and forged documents has been found, the release said.

However, the authority in charge of verification has completely avoided the matter or has given a positive report hiding the facts which is not possible without the direct involvement of the higher authorities, it said.

Referring to the inquiring officer's remarks that the then top district police officer directed them to give a positive report on human ground, Iftekharuzzaman said there is no moral and legal scope for recruitment in police service on human ground even after submitting fake and forged documents.

So, it needs to be addressed immediately through an impartial and independent investigation why the superintendent of police concerned gave such reported instructions for what purpose, he added.

"At the same time, it has to be ascertained whether there was any illegal money transaction in this recruitment," he added.

"Attempts to prove one's innocence by placing blame on subordinate officers from the higher echelons concerned are questionable and unacceptable," he further said.

The TIB executive director further said irregularities, corruption and fraud in the recruitment of law enforcement agencies have been heard for a long time but in most cases it is not acknowledged.

"So it would not be an exaggeration to say that this incident in Narayanganj is just the tip of the iceberg," he said.