Passport forgery: ACC sues ex-IGP Benazir, 4 others
Benazir falsely listed ‘Private Service’ as his profession despite being a government employee and obtained passports without the required departmental no-objection, reads the case document
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed and four others for concealing identities while renewing his passport and getting a new passport through fraud and forgery, bypassing the required no objection certificate (NOC).
Hafizul Islam, deputy director of ACC's Integrated District Office in Dhaka-1, filed the case today (14 October), the anti-graft watchdog's Director General (prevention) Md Akhtar Hossain confirmed The Business Standard.
Besides Benazir, the other accused are Fazlul Haque and Munshi Muyeed Ekram, former directors of different divisional passport and visa offices; e-Passport and Automated Border Control Project technical manager Sahena Haq; and divisional director Abdullah Al Mamun.
As per the case statement, while serving as DIG on 11 October, 2010, Benazir Ahmed submitted a handwritten passport and applied for an official machine-readable passport (MRP) without obtaining the required departmental no-objection. His application form was marked as "official".
Despite being a government employee, Benazir's profession was falsely listed as "Private Service" and committed fraud and forgery, reads the case document.
It said Benazir continued this practice even while serving as the director general of the Rapid Action Battalion, falsely mentioning "Private Service" in the passport application.
He has also applied for an MRP and an e-passport (electronic passport) at other times without providing the required departmental NOC.
The case statement further mentioned that the four passport department officials were fully aware of Benazir's true identity and official status and still facilitated the process by approving both an ordinary passport and an official e-passport in his name without proper verification.
The charges against the accused have been levelled under several sections of the Penal Code, the Anti-Corruption Act of 1947, and the Bangladesh Passport Order of 1973.
This case follows a recent ACC asset declaration notice served to Benazir and his family.