Fraudulent birth certificates allegedly issued through retired official’s account

Authorities are investigating allegations that Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Zone-2 issued birth certificates to two Rohingyas. A person can get a passport with a birth certificate even if s/he does not have a national identity card. Sources said there are three possible methods through which fake birth certificates can be issued. Birth certificates are issued through user IDs of officials of the registration department. These user IDs can be used in making fake certificates as well. Besides, fake birth certificates can be issued by hacking IDs and regulators of central servers or ministries. The central server regulator can regulate the user IDs through which birth or death certificates are issued, said a registrar of DSCC Zone-2. “The higher authorities have the ability deactivate our IDs. If there is any mistake after the issuing of certificates from user IDs they can be corrected from the central server. New certificates can also be issued from the same server. “The registrar can issue fake certificates from his/her user ID beyond the rules. In that case if any allegation is brought against it the ID user will have to take responsibility.” The DSCC official, who preferred anonymity, said: “If a person wants to issue any certificate from the central server s/he will have to get access through a user ID. Unused or old IDs can also be used in that case. “If any certificate is issued from our IDs it is recorded under our IDs.” Citing the latest example of the two fake birth certificates issued to Rohingyas, another official who also wished not to be named said the certificates were issued from the user ID `DSCC Korban’. Korban Ali retired two years ago, the official said. Asked why the retired official’s user ID is still active, the official said the password of the user ID has been changed. The fake certificates might have been issued by hacking the retired official’s ID or accessing the ID through higher authorities, who have control over the central server, said DSCC officials. The third and final way that fake birth certificates may be issued is by hacking. However, the DSCC thinks it is not possible to fill out all information needed to issue the certificate correctly through hacking.

DNCC user accounts deactivated

As a precaution the authorities shut down all user ID accounts of the birth-death registration department of the corporation and instead only a sanitary inspector’s account has been kept active in each zone. Only one officer is currently in charge of registering birth and death certificates in each zone office of the corporation. DSCC officials said a person can collect birth registration from a municipality or city corporation even though s/he is not the permanent resident of the area. Frauds often try to collect fake certificates from outside their own areas by bribing the staff or employee of the municipality or city corporation. Recently the office of Registrar General, Births and Deaths, sent a letter to the DSCC about the issuance of fake birth certificates. After the allegation, data entry to all user IDs across the country has been deactivated. However, at the request of DSCC, the data is still kept in old birth registration books by using user IDs of the organization.

Investigation underway

Since data is being entered into old books under user IDs, allegations against the DSCC have now become more intense. Officials could not explain why data are entered into old books. DSCC Chief Health Officer Brig Gen Dr Sheikh Salahuddin said: “We have received a letter. Following that we have formed a probe committee. “We cannot comment on a matter which is under investigation. We will be able to know how fake certificates are being issued after a few days.” Salahuddin also said: “I have nothing to say about the fake birth certificates issued to two Rohingyas.  A `false’ incident has happened and the investigation is under way. “An IT expert of the office of the registrar general has also been included in the probe committee. The investigation is assessing all information,” the chief health officer said. DSCC sanitary inspector Aslam Bhuiyan, who is also a member of the body probing the allegation of issuing of fake birth certificates, could not be reached for comments. He was not available at his office on Wednesday.This article was first published on banglatribune.com