As many as 15 staffers of the Election Commission (EC) have been found to be involved in the process of identification documents for Rohingyas using fake names and addresses.
“Some of the staffers have been already sacked on different grounds. We are not disclosing the names due to the sake of the investigation,” Saidul Islam, director general of the EC’s NID wing, told the media on Monday (Sept 23).
Earlier in the day, the Anti-Corruption Commission said it will open investigations against officials and employees of the EC over the matter.
Appreciating the graft watchdog’s move, the NID wing chief said, “We all cooperate with all government agencies to take actions against the perpetrators.”
At the media call, Islam claimed that the NID wing’s ‘main server’ was not compromised.
“It has been said that Rohingyas have been enlisted as voters in the EC’s server. There’s no option to access the main server. What actually happened is Rohingyas were recorded [as voters] in temporary server which is being maintained for updating the electoral roll. We have identified 61 such cases,” he said.
According to the NID wing chief, a sting operation uncovered the perpetrators behind the incident.
“Joynal, an employee of Double Mooring Thana Election officer [in Chattogram] came up through it ... the number [of EC staffers involved] is not more than 15,” said Director General Islam.
On Sunday (Sept 22), police in Chattogram detained four temporary staffers of the EC for their alleged involvement in helping Rohingyas obtain NIDs.
The four were picked up by police after Joynal Abedin, an office assistant at Double-Mooring Thana Election office, who was earlier arrested for helping Rohingyas get NIDs, named them in his deposition.
Joynal gave his deposition under Section 164 in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Salem Md Noman on Saturday.
Previously, the Election Commission temporarily suspended Joynal after he was accused in a case filed for helping Rohingyas obtain NIDs.
Earlier this month, police and passport officials said some Rohingya refugees were making Bangladeshi passports using forged NID cards with the help of some locals and Rohingya brokers.
The Rohingya people were using fake names and addresses while applying for the identification documents.
Recently, a government probe body found that at least 73 suspicious applications were uploaded to the Election Commission database for issuing NID cards.