Olympics passport scam: NADRA investigation finds no wrongdoing
The documentary and video evidence scanned by the Nadra shows that the tabloid’s investigator Mohammad Ali Asad was present at the office in person for the renewal of his expired NIC.
According to Nadra’s database, Asad had first obtained his NIC in 2002. He later immigrated to the UK and has been living there for the past 8-10 years. Asad was issued a UK Passport in 2011, with the same name and picture as per his Nadra records. However, the passport bears a fake place and date of birth.
Asad, as an undercover agent for The Sun, travelled to Pakistan on July 8, 2012. He visited the Nadra office in Baghbanpura, Lahore to get his CNIC photo updated on July 10.
Asad’s CNIC was updated after comparing the data with his previous record held in Nadra database.
Once his CNIC was modified, Asad started the process for acquiring a machine-readable passport on July 13, which was delivered to him on July 18.
Since the same person applied to renew his own ID card and for provision of a passport, nothing illegal was done, Nadra stated.
The national authority termed The Sun report an attempt to undermine Pakistan’s identity card and passport issuance systems.
Earlier, the Cabinet had ordered Nadra to file a defamation suit against The Sun.
The NADRA presentation on the Olympics passport scam investigation can be seen here.
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The seeds of doubt, founded or otherwise, have been laid....
Fingers will readily point to south asia if any "firecracker" were to go off out of place in London this summer (god forbid)...
This does not bode well.
@Arsie: @mr. righty rightist: Better to look at the investigation than blame the overseas pakistanis.. so what would you have said if a local pakistani had done the same... these blanket statements shows immaturity... whether the sun has unearthed the scam or not, only time will tell but you cannot blame a overseas pakistani for this.
Do you know that the largest contributor to the Pakistani economy is an overseas pakistani.. Pakistan ranks 10th in the world for remittances sent home in 2012 at $13 billion. Need i say more...
@ Arsie, you have no idea how economy works. The money sent by overseas Pakistanis to their relatives benefits everyone including government. All remittances are first added in foreign exchange reserves which show the strength of economy. If overseas Pakistanis stop sending, our foreign exchange reserves will fall from 17 billion to only 7 billion. The situation would become very dangerous as it will effect our balance of payments. Also most of the remittances are sent through banks who charge fee for each transaction. The fee charged is added in income to pay salaries of bank officials. When family receives money, its used for day to day expenses, for example purchase of gas and patrol. 50% of money spent on those purchases includes government tax and its goes into government exchequre. There are hundreds of other benefits of foreign exchange sent by hard working Pakistanis abroad. They are doing their duty but you do one thing, please learn how economy works.
As I said before, anything a Murdoch paper says must be taken with a pich of salt.
@Zaikam: If there is no wrong doing then there is nothing to be afraid of. Go a head an sue these people. We’ve seen what has happened with that disgraced News of the World. These people will go to any level to sell their news.
Yes ! please Sue them ! Perhaps actual facts will come in public domain, and this is not Pakistan but UK ! Its should be made a matter of Public Interest Litigation too, so the pakistanis actually learn as to how honest their people are !
LOL ! NADRA to Sue News Corp ! Where ? Perhaps in Pakistan ! As this is a never going to be filed in Royal Court of Justice in London ! The reason is simple, that story does have basis, as much as anyone in Pakistan would like to evade the issue. Rest assure the Pak High Comm would already made a media event of this in London, if what is suggested is the case! Just as they did in Cricket scandal and without foundation, but they too have learned some lessons ! When is this Country going to come out of the cocoon of denials and denialabilty in every sphere of their lives and society ? This type of patriotism is rather bad for a Nation of Pakistan's stature on Global Stage.
All should remember that the SUN has a video of the visa scam unfolding, with the pertinent players offering access for a fat fee! As for the "Investigation" by NADRA, concluded in record time, I would suggest that they ALSO conduct the Abbottabad OBL Investigation (should take about 20 minutes)!
Just to add to my last comments that I live in UK and am aware of this BS* SUN tabloid...even people here in UK treat it like "Awam" newspaper and my fellow Pakistanis are jumping up and down in maligning their own institutions..
Cannot agree more with Hammad Q - to the point analysis. We as a nation are a mocking stock now! We believe what a stupid good-for-nothing tabloid says to malign our country but we won't trust our own institutions..In rest of the world, they strengthen their institutions and defend them even if they are not 100% right! This is a case where Pakistan as a country has been portrayed quite badly but look at my fellow Pakistanis that they themselves are going over the board in calling bad names to national institutions and country!
I have a strong feeling that this whole baseless episode was played just to paint a bad picture of Pakistan in Olympics and lower the morale of our athletes..
Common guys, act like a nation at least for once!
Couple of years ago on my visit to Pakistan I found out that my NIC was cancelled in August 2008 and a gentleman was issued with my ID number. upon investigation it was found that that person had deposited a sum of Rs 10000 as a fee to take over my details. not only is he issued with my ID Number but also using my name and my parents details as his. this is pure identity fraud.
Nadra admitted that they cannot cancel an NIC without the cardholders permission. its been now 1 1/2 years since and after writing several complain letters and even getting political connections to sort it out the matter remains unsolved. Thanks to NADRA that i am unable to renew my passport and unable to travel to my country. Any help would be much appreciated....
@elcay: A machine readable passport is available within a week, if applied on urgent fee basis. It's simple, nothing complex in it. To all of those, who still think that Sun has published a credible story then we can just feel pity on those people. NADRA must go ahead and file defamation suit against The Sun. The lesson must be taught to them.
@Saud
since when computers started to work on its own????.... there is more Junk in NADRA then you can imagine....
To those passing negative comments on Pakistanis, your comments are not welcome here so please go and comment on other 'white' or Indian news sites where your comments will be praised. The biggest joker here is the one who believes in a dirty newspaper that has been criticised too many times in Britian itself rather than on NADRA a fully computerised agency.
Before people start bad mouthing tabloid, I would like to refresh there memory about last tango with a tabliod and evryone knows what happened at the end:
"The Cricket spot-fixing scandal centres on certain members of Pakistan's Cricket team being convicted of taking bribes from a bookmaker, Mazhar Majeed, to under-perform deliberately at certain times in the 4th Test match at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, in 2010.
Undercover reporters from News of the World, secretly videotaped Mazhar Majeed accepting money and informing the reporters that fast bowlers Asif and Amir would deliberately bowl no balls at specific points in an over."
In this case a British Pakistani comes to Pakistan with the sole purpose of finding defamatory news for his British masters. And now the majority people finding flaws in nadras investigation are overseas Pakistanis. Bhutto was right when he said OP's are loyal to their own petty interests only.
It is indeed very sad and troubling for me to read the comments of my fellow Pakistanis. We have lost all faith in our own institutions and our own people. We will believe whatever a newspaper in the UK tells us, while if our own institution, in this case NADRA, clarifies something we do not believe it. We look for conspiracy and spicy stories all the time and this is why our country stands at this junction today. Trust your own people, strengthen your own institutions and work for your country. It is not just our politicians and bureaucrats who are slave to the West, but also our common man. If NADRA finds no fault of its own in a day we have a problem. If it took it a week, we have a problem, if it finds itself guilty, we have a problem! While I, by no means, wish to glorify NADRA and its working, especially when it comes to passport and how these agents scam people of thousands of rupees to deliver to them what is their right, I support NADRA in launching a quick investigation into its own workings. NADRA is a respected institute and has helped several countries deal with identity theft and fake ID's.
Arsie: This is very sad to hear. Overseas Pakistanis like me represent Pakistan in several countries of the world. They send billions of dollars back home, and support Pakistan. People like you are a disgrace to this country, but adopting this "I am more patriotic than you" attitude based upon you living in the country, and not what you have done for the country.
@elcay: I live in Canada and i got my urgent Machine readable passport renewed in just 2 weeks which includes a week time taken by the courier.
I completely agree with eclay. The passport could not have been made in such a short time. I have had plenty of experience with the passport office. Urgent passports are stated to be made in 6-7 working days, but they can take upto a month in reality. Moreover, July 13th was a Friday and they delivered it on 18th July (Wednesday). So, are you telling me that they take 3 working days to make a passport?
This investigation was virtually "instantaneous" by Pakistan stds - almost as fast as your investigation of the Salala incident which apparently was either inaccurate or never performed. No doubt the Brits will investigate on their own and it will be interesting what they reveal.
@elcay: Urgent Passport takes a week or less to be made. Ordinary takes a approx month
@Umer: Do you even bother to read the article?
@elcay have you ever got a Pakistani Passport? Stop this attitude of criticising everything without any information
Report of a dirty tabloid is more credible for those who are commenting here against NADRA which is very professional institution. You guys should abandon your nationality and leave Pakistan forever. Govt should also cancel Pakistani nationality of person who was involved in this whole scam.
investigations Concluded in a day ??? Since when this started happened here ? This raises more question then answers ...
Actually NADRA f-d up alot of records. Mine is one of the passports that mistakenly shows a place other than my actual place of birth.
Next nadra will tell us that the earth is flat not round and that the sun revolves around the earth and not the other way around. Does anyone in the world trust these JOKERS.
Overseas Pakistanis are a disgrace to the country
The dirtiest game The Sun has played to muster the rating. Depth of morality shown by British media.
Are they trying to do what Ijaz Butt did...They always do such investigations in hurry and later repent and tender sorry. Please first investigate properly and then sue..
Sure with the Abbottabad investigation was a quick as this one.
yeah right...no wrong doings....how about taking the NIC issued by NADRA to more then 1 million afghanis first?....they are all Pakistani now....too easy for them to buy NIC its a game of Money in Pakistan...! ANYTHING can be done in Pakistan for the right price !
The Government of Pakistan must take legal actions against those whoever fabricated the story and tried to malign our country.
Seems like the passport ring has links within the government never expected them to conclude investigations in a day
So, where Muhammad Ali spent 7000 + pounds ? The Sun should recover it from him & get ready for defamation suit.
If there is no wrong doing then there is nothing to be afraid of. Go a head an sue these people. We've seen what has happened with that disgraced News of the World. These people will go to any level to sell their news.
it means suspected person(s) were officially part of Pak delegation !!
lol…yeah right. Would they find fault with themselves?
The corruption in Pakistani society has reached its limits if there can be any limits.