ACC prosecutes eight over ‘jobs on fake educational certificates’

Of the eight, four are police personnel accused of collusion

file photo

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has prosecuted eight people in Chattogram on allegations of securing employment using forged educational certificates.

The case was filed at the ACC Chattogram District Office-1 by Assistant Director Said Mohammad Imran Hossain.

The suspects include Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) driver Khaled Mosharraf Riaz, sweeper Swapan Sarkar, guards Md Farid Ahmed and Alamgir Hossain, former sub-inspector Md Rafiq of Ramgati Police Station, former assistant sub-inspector Md Monir Hossain of Chattogram Police’s Special Branch, former sub-inspector Abdul Baten of Khagrachhari Police’s Special Branch, and former district intelligence officer (DIO) Atikur Rahman of Gaibandha Police.

According to the case statement, four individuals were appointed in 2016 to the posts of driver, sweeper and guard at BFRI, for which the required educational qualification was completion of eighth grade.

Although their jobs were later made permanent, allegations emerged that they had submitted forged certificates.

Following an investigation, the ACC confirmed that the educational certificates submitted by the four employees were fake.

The case alleges that up to Jun 29 last year, the four employees misappropriated approximately Tk 8.7 million from the public exchequer in salaries and allowances.

The statement said police verification reports falsely certified the eighth grade completion certificates submitted by the four employees as genuine. Based on these reports, their jobs were made permanent.

As a result, four police officers were accused of assisting in the misappropriation of public funds by facilitating the fraudulent verification process through collusion.