One month ago, Netra News revealed that Tofail Ahmed Joseph, one of the brothers of the Bangladesh’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Aziz Ahmed, had created a new false identity through which he obtained a National ID card and passport under a false name.
His new name in these documents was Tanveer Ahmed Tanjil. Netra News had managed to obtain copies of the information relating to his new national ID and passport — containing his photograph and false name.
Joseph had obtained these documents within weeks of his release from jail in May 2018 after being pardoned by the Bangladesh President for the crime of murder, committed 18 years earlier.
Creating false documents on this kind are criminal offences under the Passport Offences Act 1952, the NID Registration Act 2010 and the Penal Code 1860. Flying on a false passport is also a particularly serious crime.
The story was watertight. But what have the Bangladesh authorities done? Nothing. No investigation of any kind at all, as far as anyone knows — even though what Joseph’s conduct appears not only to amount to imprisonable offences but to raise serious questions about the integrity of Bangladesh’s National ID card and passport system.
Is the brother of the Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff immune from investigative scrutiny? It does seems so — reflecting the power of the Bangladesh army both in general terms, but also (one assumes) in the context of the relationship between the COAS and the prime minister. It suggests that the prime minister would rather turn a blind eye to quite serious crimes apparently committed by the brother of the COAS, rather than getting into any kind of confrontation with him
The might of the army is also the reason why no Bangladesh media has reported on this story — an issue Netra News has written about in the context of the Lt Gen (Rtd) General Sarwardy interview. They don’t dare to. The army’s intelligence wing — DGFI — have a media unit which ensures that newspapers and TV stations know the limit of what they can and can’t report. And a story on the brother of the chief of army staff allegedly corrupting the NID and passport system is clearly on the wrong side of the line.
Bangladesh’s civilian authorities — including the prime minister herself — are always keen to use the rhetoric of anti-corruption to both justify their authority and detain and imprison their political enemies. However, when this corruption is in their midst, governmental authorities will take no action — unless it is in someone’s political interest to do so (as in the Anti-Casino corruption investigations), or they are forced into doing so by unusual political events or media scrutiny.
Netra News will be keeping an eye on this story to constantly remind the authorities that they have a responsibility to investigate Joseph’s conduct.
//DB
