The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) says it will investigate officials and employees of the Election Commission (EC) following allegations of Rohingya refugees obtaining National ID (NID) cards.
The graft watchdog’s Public Relations wing said that the decision came on Monday (Sept 23).
“If anyone is found guilty in this regard, the commission will lodge cases against them,” ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharjee told the media.
The ACC has started its investigation, he added.
According to the ACC, some EC staffers, now based in Dhaka, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar and Pabna, have allegedly made millions by facilitating rings to provide Rohingyas with NIDs.
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.