If the fake documents seized by officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in recent months are anything to go by, misuse of citizenship papers and tampering with passports issued by various district administration offices was extensive before machine readable passports (MRPs) were introduced on January 1.
“We have been receiving two fake citizenships on average every day,” Harihar Kant Paudel, a consular officer who examines the authenticity of documents, told Republica. [break]
Along with the introduction of MRPs, tampering with which is next to impossible, MoFA had introduced some measures, including setting up a forensic police unit, to check possible use of fraudulent documents to get passports.
MoFA has seized 45 fake citizenships, mostly held by Indians and one held by a Bangladeshi, and some fake passports in recent months, besides getting their possessors arrested.
The seized documents show that some of the accused hold citizenship certificates issued in the names of persons who do not even know that the certificates are in the possession of persons they have never met nor will ever meet.
This came to the light at the Central Passport Office when it got an Indian from Banaras arrested after he was found holding a citizenship issued by Dhanusha District Administration in the name of one Jitan Mahar Chamara, a resident of Harin in Dhanusha district.
While police investigations into seized fake documents and the persons involved are underway, others have been founding in possession citizenships belonging to others but with their own photos attached. Bishnu Kumari Bitalu Ranamagar has been in police custody after she tried to apply for a passport with a citizenship certificate issued in someone else´s name. The seized citizenship has a different picture from the one at the time it was issued by Dang District Administration.
Lately, passport officials have also been successful in seizing fake passports. They were surprised to find that a passport held by Jamyang Tsultrim Gurung, a resident of Swoyambhu, Kathmandu, had been issued neither by MoFA nor by any district administration office. As the passport was seized by the Nepali embassy in India, officials suspect that it was the work of an Indian.
In addition, the Nepali embassy in Kuwait has informed the ministry that it has found eight passports in the possession of unauthorized persons, and asked for investigations.
In its bid to check passport fraud, MoFA had made it mandatory for passport applicants to get their passport applications attested by the district administration offices that issued their citizenships. But officials said that the district administration offices are not taking that responsibility seriously. The Central Passport Office has found negligence in verifying the documents.
“Myagdi District Administration Office recently informed us that it never issued a passport to Ganga Damai. But later the same office informed us that it did issued such a passport,” said an official by way of example. Such carelessness has been found at other district administration offices as well.
“We would be able to track fraudulent documents and fake passports if there was greater cooperation from district administration offices,” said another official at Central Passport Office.
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