The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a lawsuit against former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed along with four others on charges of passport fraud and forgery.
Deputy director Hafizul Islam, ACC's Integrated District Office Dhaka-01, lodged the case on Monday, according to a senior ACC official.
Other accused are former director of the passport department Fazlul Haque, Munshi Muid Ikram, technical manager Mst Sahena Haque, and divisional director Abdullah Al Mamun.
On 11 October 2010, Benazir while serving as deputy inspector general applied for an official machine readable passport without departmental clearance, submitting his handwritten passport, reads the case statement.
Although marked as "official" in the application, he falsely claimed to be in private service in spite of being a government official.
He repeated this deception during his tenure as the director general of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Over time, he applied for MRPs and e-passports without obtaining clearances.
The charges also state that the accused officials knowingly approved Benazir's passports without clearance or verification, although they were fully aware of his official status.
Later, they issued a regular passport or e-passport under his name, thereby committing forgery and criminal misconduct.
The case has been filed under several sections of the penal code, including 420, 467, 468, 471 and 109, section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, and section 11 of the Bangladesh Passport Order 1973, reads the case docket. On the other hand, another ACC enquiry regarding passport fraud against the fugitive police chief is ongoing.
On June 25, the ACC questioned two additional directors general and 13 other passport officials. It was alleged that Benazir concealed his police identity on his passport and avoided using the officially eligible blue passport or the red diplomatic passport.
Instead, he resorted to unfair means in order to obtain a regular passport by impersonating a private sector employee.
In late March 2024, two media reports titled 'Benazir's Aladdin's Lamp' and 'Benazir's Resort on Forest Land' raised allegations of ill-gotten gains by Benazir and his family.
Later, the ACC took notice of the articles and initiated an enquiry.
On April 22, the ACC began an investigation into allegations of wealth accumulations by Benazir, his wife Zisan Mirza and their two daughters, Farheen Rishta Binte Benazir and Tahsin Raisa Binte Benazir.
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