At least a couple of Bangladeshi missions abroad have facilitated a certain foreign quarter to make a fast buck in cahoots with some of their officials, sources said.
The unfair acts have been spoiling Bangladesh's image abroad and draining out a hefty sum from Bangladeshi visa-seekers abroad, without benefiting any single penny to country's revenue earnings, it has been alleged.
Allegation have it that a strong syndicate of vested interest, led by a section of high-ups at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Home Ministry of the immediate-past 'authoritarian' regime, patronised only a single Indian company that has garnered whopping gains over the past several years.
Although the Sheikh Hasina regime was deposed in a student-mass uprising on August 5, a Delhi-based Indian company -- Dudigital BD Pvt - still continued making money out of the 'controversial' deals, they said.
Officials said Bangladesh's Deputy High Commission in Kolkata and Assistant High Commission in Guwahati assigned Dudigital as service provider to deliver visa services to Bangladeshi visa-seekers and earn huge money in return, bending necessary rules and policies.
These two missions engaged the Indian firm in the name of 'outsourcing visa application processes' although dedicated officials were there to do it, according to the allegations.
After gaining 'permissions' from the Bangladeshi missions, the Indian company charges 'exorbitant' prices 'illegally' from Bangladeshi visa-seeking foreigners both in Kolkata and Guwahati, insiders have said.
Allegations have it that both these two Bangladeshi foreign missions awarded Dudigital the authority to collect money against extending visa-related services to foreign nationals without attaining any requisite approval from the Finance Division under the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
"Nor have they floated open tenders to select the service provider for visa-related services on a competitive basis," says one insider.
The FE obtained a copy of the agreement inked between Bangladesh Deputy High Commission, Kolkata, and Dudigital BD Private Ltd. The agreement was signed on October 7, 2021 for five-year tenure from December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2026.
Bangladesh's then Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata Toufique Hasan inked the deal on behalf of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission and Director of Dudigital BD Private Ltd Shivaz Rai inked the agreement on behalf of Dudigital BD Private Ltd.
First secretary of Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata Muhammad Saniul Kader and director of Punjab Engineering Works Kolkata Piyush Gupta were witnesses to the agreements.
Although head of chancery is to ink any deal on behalf of the Bangladeshi missions, the then head of chancery avoided inking this 'illegal' deal, insiders said.
Sources say currently there is no visa fee payable for Indian nationals to get Bangladeshi visas. But, having been 'illegally' authorized from the Bangladeshi missions, Dudigital has been collecting Indian Rupees (INR) 699.15 (Tk 997) as service charge fixed for every Bangladeshi visa-seeking Indians.
Apart from the fixed service charge, the Indian company has also been charging exorbitant rates against other services they provide, like visa at doorstep for INR 4,000, private lounge charge INR 3,500, fast-track service INR 1,500, courier charge INR 400, visa-form filling service INR 300, photograph (4 copies) INR 200, colour photocopy per page INR 20, black-and- white photocopy charge per page INR 10, and printout charge INR 15 per page.
The FE correspondent obtained an invoice of Dudigital where it charged INR 1,125 as service charge and form-filling fees and taxes from an Bangladeshi visa seeking Indian national, but the government of Bangladesh did not find anything for its coffer.
Sources have said, in connivance with a vested-interested group, the Indian firm started its services of processing visa applications of Bangladeshi visa-seekers in December 2021 in Deputy High Commission in Kolkata and in February 2024 in Assistant High Commission in Guwahati.
The syndicate, backed by the then political high-ups of the previous government, was active to award similar facility to the same Indian company in four other Bangladeshi foreign missions in India.
They also had plans to introduce similar visa-outsourcing services in developed countries like the United States, the UK, Australia, Canada and some Middle-Eastern countries, sources said.
They said having influenced by political powers that be, director-general of consular and welfare of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur wrote to head of chanceries of four Bangladeshi missions in New Delhi, Agartala, Chennai and Mumbai on June 13, 2024, just one month before the July upsurge, requesting the outsourcing of visa-application process by engaging Dudigital BD Pvt Ltd.
Mr Monsur, however, revoked its effectiveness after two months of its issuance on August 14, 2024 following the ouster of the previous regime.
He sent letters to head of chanceries of the four Bangladeshi missions to postpone the outsource initiative as requested on June 13.
Sources alleged that the MOFA violated government's Outsourcing Policy to select and obtain service from any third party.
According to the Outsourcing Policy to Receive Service 2018, any government entity or agency willing to obtain service from any third party through outsourcing must have obtain prior approval from the Finance Division under the MOF.
But neither the Deputy High Commission of Kolkata nor the Assistant High Commission of Guwahati had obtained such approval.
Besides, no open tenders or advertisements were published to select the service provider to outsource visa-application processes on behalf of Bangladeshi missions abroad.
No committee was also formed to select the company.
Vetting by law ministry was not taken before making such deals with Dudigital.
According to the Rules of Business 1996 and the Allocation of Business 1996 of Bangladesh government, such deals should have been inked by the MOFA and not by any missions, insiders said.
The MOF recently enquired the MOFA about the legal authority to ink deals with Indian Dudigital and awarding outsourcing visa-application job to a third party.
The MOFA subsequently directed the Deputy High Commission of Kolkata and the Assistant High Commission of Guwahati to submit information regarding MOF's query.
The Deputy High Commission of Kolkata in its response to the MOFA acknowledged that no prior approval from the MOF was taken before inking the outsourcing deal with Dudigital.
Limited tendering process, through request for proposal, was followed to select the Indian firm for the job where only three companies took part, the Kolkata mission claimed but could not provide any probe of following due diligence.
Security service division (SSD) of the Home Ministry had provided approval in principle before the inking of the deal, the mission's letter to the MOFA clarified.
But the Home Ministry's instruction to select any company following due procedure was not maintained, sources alleged.
As it was a major decision, it should have been done through open tendering, not by limited tendering, they said.
"We had no knowledge that a prior permission from the MOF was required to award outsourcing service to any third party," says director-general of consular and welfare section of the MOFA Dr Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur.
"We, who were involved in awarding the outsourcing job to a third party, knew that the Ministry of Home and MOFA were enough to deal with such issues," he adds.
"We also had obtained 'no objection' from the Home Ministry before awarding the outsourcing contract to the third party," says Mr Monsur
"We, however, have started reviewing the whole process again and take a fresh decision soon."
Despite repeated attempts, the then Deputy High Commissioner to Kolkata, Toufique Hasan, and Director of Dudigital BD Private Ltd Shivaz Rai did not respond to queries on the issue.
Azizjst@yahoo.com
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