The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against former Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed and four others for passports forgery.
Deputy Director of the ACC Md Hafizul Islam filed the case with District Office Dhaka-1 as a plaintiff.
The case was filed against them for making passports through forgery.
The four other accused are former director of the Dhaka Division Passport Office Mohammad Fazlul Haque, former Director Munshi Muyeed Ikram, director Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun, and Technical Manager of the e-passport and automated border control project, Sahena Haque.
Benazir Ahmed, while serving as DIG of Police Headquarters, Additional IGP, Director General of RAB, and Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), resorted to fraud despite being a government employee.
He falsely declared his profession as a private service employee on multiple occasions and applied for Machine Readable Passports (MRP) and e-passports without departmental clearance (NOC).
The other accused, fully aware of Benazir Ahmed’s official identity, willingly engaged in criminal misconduct without verifying or obtaining the necessary departmental clearance.
On June 26, the ACC quizzed eight officials of the Department of Immigration and Passports to get information on seven passports issued to former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed and his family members.
Benazir allegedly obtained a general passport hiding the fact that he is a government official. Government officials get blue passports, lawmakers and diplomats get red passports while individuals get green general passports.
As a government official, he was supposed to have a blue passport, said sources in the ACC.
They said the passport-issuing authorities noticed that he had a green passport and halted its renewal.
At that time, Benazir was the director general of Rab and a letter in this regard was sent to Rab headquarters, they said. But Benazir managed to get his passport renewed by abusing his power, the sources added.
An ACC team led by its Deputy Director Md Hafizul Islam, head of the enquiry team formed to investigate the graft allegations against the former police chief, quizzed the officials at its headquarters in the capital for over three hours.
On June 13, the anti-graft body sent letters to passport officials--Md Mohsin Islam, Abu Md Motaleb Hossain, Abdul Jalil Mondol, Munshi Mueed Ikram, Abdullah Al Mamun, Abu Naeem Masum, Saidur Rahman, and Subas Chandra Roy--for quizzing.
Benazir and his family members had skipped the ACC's questioning over allegations that they amassed huge wealth through illegal means.
On May 28, the ACC issued a notice, asking Benazir to appear at its office on June 6, and his wife and two daughters on June 9.
