Forgery racket: NADRA calls in FIA to help with investigation

Four top officials of NADRA were also involved in forgery racket run by a group making CNICs and passports.

ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has enlisted the help of the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) to probe a forgery racket run by a group that was making computerised national identity cards (CNICs) and passports in connivance with its officials.

The FIA and NADRA had earlier busted a gang, that had made thousands of CNICs and passports on fake documents, officials from the two organisations told The Express Tribune. A complaint has been filed with the FIA Punjab, which later registered an FIR, 34/2010 this week.

The most significant revelation was that four top officials of NADRA were also involved in helping the gang. The FIA Punjab has arrested the officials of NADRA in the past week and taken remand for investigating the issue.

“The process of investigation is being expanded, as it is expected that some other officials might be involved in this illegal business,” said the NADRA deputy chairman.

FIA Punjab Director Zaffar Ahmad Qureshi confirmed that a special team led by Assistant Director Waseem Ahmad was probing the scam which has potentially resulted in the loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. The FIA team has busted an agent with fake CNICs and passports and other relevant materials helping the gang in making fake documents, he added.

Meanwhile, an official NADRA statement said that senior authority figures have taken action against 106 employees during the last two years. A majority of them were found involved in issuing fake CNICs and other illegal activities. Their contracts have been terminated and they have been punished in accordance with the law.

The statement quoted the NADRA deputy chairman as saying that human intelligence was not enough so we are using technology to study behavioural trends of data and then using the same to nab the culprits. The allegedly suspicious activities of the staff were under observation by the vigilance department of NADRA. Since it is not a law enforcement agency, it had to call in the relevant authorities to arrest and investigate the matter further, the statement added.

“The authority is vigilant and taking notice of suspicious attempts to obtain CNICs through the use of fake documents. It instantly investigates such cases to hand over correct information to staffers,” the statement said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2010.