The ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) has clarified its position against an investigative report published in a national daily on the corruption of one of its administrative officers and said they are zero tolerant against any such activities.
The report was published on 4 January in Bengali daily Prothom Alo. It mentioned that administrative officer Zakir Hossain’s signature appeared on a number of fake visas issued to nationals of several African countries. He served at the Bangladesh High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya.
The report said the official was also working for the UN-Habitat in Tanzania in a lien from the foreign ministry. But, the foreign ministry said this information is not correct. It said Zakir Hossain was asked to join the ministry after completing his term in Nairobi Mission, but he could not join on time.
He is facing departmental inquiry for absconding and misconduct in the light of the Civil Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018, for not joining the ministry in time as per the instructions of the ministry and not informing about his position.
The ministry also found his certificate as fake and filed a departmental case against Zakir.
The foreign ministry earlier received various allegations and then decided to bring him back as a first step to take legal action against him, according to the press release.
In recent times, according to the press release, Bangladesh's political relations with African countries have improved and bilateral cooperation has increased in various international forums. The ministry is also aware of the activities of Bangladesh missions.
“Following this, the Ministry had taken a zero-tolerance policy against any kind of irregularities and is reiterating that.”
