The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in a crackdown on Thursday caught two brokers red-handed and took action against two corrupt staff for their involvement in bribery related to national identity card (NID) services of the Election Commission.
A team of ACC conducted an enforcement operation at the Election Commission (EC) office in Dhaka’s Agargaon, targeting a network of corrupt staff and brokers who were allegedly involved in bribery related to NID card services.
The members of the ACC’s enforcement team went undercover as service seekers and found evidence of bribery.
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The operation was prompted by allegations that several staff members of the EC Secretariat and its National Identity Registration Wing, and members of law enforcement were involved in taking bribes for different NID services like personal data corrections and smart NID card printing.
During the seven-hour operation, the four-member team, headed by ACC Deputy Director Atiqur Rahman, discovered that computer shop owners and brokers around the Election Commission office were demanding bribes in exchange for facilitating NID services.
“Two brokers were detained red-handed during the operation, and two employees of the Election Commission were found to be directly involved. Immediate action was taken against the two employees for their involvement,” said an ACC release this evening.
The enforcement team leant that an internal investigation, earlier conducted by the Election Commission, also confirmed that several employees within the Commission and its related projects were involved in bribery.
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The team will now place a detailed report to the ACC, reviewing the collected documents and evidence.
Team member and ACC Assistant Director Ashif Al Mahmud told reporters that they started the operation at 11 am today and found the bribery allegation to be true.
"A network of bribery transactions has been created. From computer shopkeepers, Ansar members, brokers, policemen to the staff of the EC are involved in the network. We’ve primarily identified those who are involved," he said.
About the ACC’s operation, Director General of EC’s National Identity Card (NID) Wing ASM Humayun Kabir said the detained persons are not from the EC, but rather brokers.
He said they were trying to find out if anyone from the EC’s side is involved in the irregularities.