For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal has formed a committee to investigate the brothers of former military chief Aziz Ahmed for getting national ID cards using ‘false information’.
The CEC made the remark in response to a question during an ‘RFED Talk’ event on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
“We have heard that Aziz Ahmed’s siblings, Haris Chowdhury [the political secretary during Khaleda Zia’s term as prime minister], and Bangabandhu’s killer Moslem Uddin’s family have received NIDs after providing false information. We suddenly learnt of this 20-25 years after the incident. Two committees have been formed to investigate.”
Media reports say that Aziz Ahmed’s two brothers – Aziz Ahmed and Tofail Ahmed (Joseph) changed their names and those of their parents in the IDs.
Haris changed his name to Mohammad Hasan, while Tofail changed his name to Tanvir Ahmed Tanzil. It is claimed that Aziz Ahmed recommended their NIDs be changed with the fake information.
“Crimes are ongoing even after we hear about them,” the CEC said. “Those who have five NIDs are committing crimes. They take advantage of whatever loopholes exist to commit these crimes.”
“But I’m not saying that he [who commits these crimes] is a pure soul. I’m not making any excuses. An inquiry committee has been formed against him.”
The CEC highlighted the forging of reports during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent trend of forging technical board certificates.
“The NID has a technical side. There may be loopholes in this technology… If 99.99 per cent of people benefit from something, but another 0.01 per cent abuse it, then efforts should be made to bring them to justice.”
Temporarily employed data entry operators could be responsible for the fraud, the CEC said.
“Those with permanent jobs don’t, but data entry operators may be convinced by their greed to do some things. But it has not been widespread.”
When contacted about the situation, Aziz Ahmed refused to comment.