Drop police verification for obtaining passports, says TIB

A background check by police before obtaining a passport paves the way for corruption, says Transparency International Bangladesh or TIB as it called on the government to get rid of it.

Its study launched on Monday found over 75 percent of passport applicants paid 'bribes' while going through police verification.

"It shows that police verification is an avenue for harassment and it's not necessary at all," said TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman at a media briefing.

Instead of police verifications, he suggests developing a 'biometric data bank' of citizens and criminals' database, which can be accessed by the passport department and immigration officials.

At Monday's media briefing, TIB's research and policy wing's Programme Manager Shahnur Rahman presented the key findings of the report.

Applicants are harassed mostly in obtaining a clearance from the police's Special Branch or SB, he said.

According to the TIB official, participants of the study said law enforcers 'deliberately' try to find errors in the applications.

They blamed SB officers for trying to extort people by threatening to link them to militant outfits or political parties.

The participants said police do not visit their homes but make phone calls and ask them to meet at the local police stations or somewhere else. They demand bribes for a clearance and sometimes tell applicants to transfer the fund through mobile banking.

>> The TIB survey was conducted over five workdays at 26 passport offices out of the 67 across the country.  The passport offices were chosen on a random basis.

>> A total of 1,453 participants were chosen through random sampling and the survey was conducted between September 2016 and May 2017.

>> In the survey, 55.2 percent of the participants said they were victims of irregularities and corruption in accessing services.

>> Of them, 45.3 percent said they had to pay bribes while 27 percent said services were delayed without any valid reason and 2.2 percent said officials neglected their duties.

>> The study says most irregularities and corruption are tied to police clearance.  And 76.2 percent participants said they were harassed by law enforcers.

 >> However, overall corruption at passport offices has come down. According to its Corruption in Service Sectors: National Household Survey 2015, the most corrupt sector was passport with 77.7 percent participants saying they were victims of corruption while in the study launched on Monday it's 76.2 percent.