Passport offices run with officials facing corruption charges
DEEPAK ACHARJEE
Several high-ranking officials of the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) are facing corruption charges. But they continue to hold important positions. The accused include the chiefs of some area offices, sources in the DIP and the home ministry said. The government appointed a military officer of the rank of major general as the director general (DG) of the DIP to improve its image. But the accused faced no action, the sources added.
Those who face corruption charges include five high-ranking officials: additional director general Md Fazlul Haque, Divisional Passport and Visa Office (Chittagong) director SM Nazrul Islam, Regional Passport Office (Mymensingh) deputy director Abu Noman Md Zakir Hossain and Regional Passport Office (Kishoreganj) assistant director Madhusudhan Sarkar. The authorities filed a departmental case against Haque. An inquiry committee was formed. It primarily found several irregularities against him. When he was asked to appear before the committee, he sought more time thrice. His aim is apparently to delay the proceedings against him, as he is slated to retire on September 30 this year.
He allegedly offered a bribe to a reporter of a private TV channel when the latter went to his office to investigate the allegations against him. Haque rubbished all the charges. I do not want to comment on this further, he said. According to sources, Md Zakir Hossain and Sarkar were involved in different irregularities like issuing passports in exchange of money. The home ministry and the DIP authorities slapped corruption charges on them recently. When Sarkar was the head of the DIP office in Brahmanbaria, the authorities had seized 75 files that had allegedly been stored to be approved later in exchange of money, the sources said. A deputy secretary of the home ministry is investigating the corruption charges. Departmental cases were filed against them by the authorities concerned, the sources added. Last year, the then director of Dhaka office, Munshi Muyeed Ekram, and assistant director SM Shah Zaman were suspended on charges like issuing of official passports to non-officials. They are still attending office and moving all quarters to have their names cleared. Sources claimed they could have removed some important documents from their personal files. Interestingly, the suspended Ekram recently sent a legal notice to the authorities, including the home secretary and the DG of the DIP, seeking promotion to the rank of additional DG of the department on the basis of seniority.
Sources said SM Nazrul Islam was also accused of helping issue official passports to non-officials. He fled Bangladesh for the USA last November, where his wife was already living.
After reaching the US, he applied to DIP, seeking two months leave. The DIP granted him a months leave. After a month, he applied for two years leave. The home ministry asked him to return within five days. But he did not.
According to sources, the DIP has suspended 18 employees in a year on corruption charges. They are Ekram, Shah Zaman, deputy assistant directors Md Zakir Hossain, Md Jashim Uddin, and Md Jahangir Alam, superintendent Jagadish Chandra Tanti, upper division clerks Md Saiful Islam, Md Shahjahan Miah, and Md Abul Hossain Sarker, office assistants Md Ashraful Amin, Md Mahmudul Hassan, Md Shariar Murshed, Md Ariful Islam, and Md Likhon Khan, stenographer Rashida Khatun, driver Mohammad Mohsin, and record-keepers Md Kabir Hossain and Md Sohrab Hossain.
DIP DG Maj. Gen. Md Masud Rezwan told The Independent that the corrupt officials continue to work because of a shortage of manpower. After assuming office, I have initiated action against corrupt employees to improve the image of the organisation, he said.
So far, we have suspended 10 employees on charge of corruption. We will set up CCTV cameras in the important rooms of the DIP offices, he added. At present, our main problem is shortage of manpower. Earlier, 17 DIP offices were run by 1,184 people. Now, only 1,000 people are manning 71 offices, he explained. Dalals (touts) are taking advantage of the situation, he added. The DG said they have sent a proposal for the appointment of 6,087 employees at the 75 offices of the DIP abroad and 72 in the country. Sources claimed that at least 1,000 official passports have been issued to ineligible civilians from November 2014 to April 2015 in exchange of hefty bribes.
Several corrupt officials of the DIP, hand in glove with some travel agencies, allegedly prepared no-objection certificates (NOCs) of different government offices using the names and seals of Class-I government officials. During the investigation, the inquiry committee found that several non-officials got official passports for Tk. 5 lakh each. Sources claimed the accused officials, when they were working in the regional passport offices outside Dhaka, issued several passports to criminals, Rohingyas and even United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) members, who are foreign (Indian) nationals.
Those with official passportsthe documents with a blue coverget visa-free access to certain countries that do not allow such access to regular or tourist passport holders. The DIP official said that at least 1.65 crore machine-readable passports (MRPs) have been issued till date. MRPs were introduced in the country on April 1, 2010, to speed up clearance and improve the security of travellers.
