NID Data Theft Scandal: Former Director in Jail

A Dhaka court has sent the former director of Porichoy Data Centre, Tareque M Barkatullah, to jail pending trial in a case filed for stealing the personal information of over 11 crore Bangladeshi citizens from the Election Commission’s (EC) data center. Police did not apply for remand as the accused was ill. However, remand may be required for the sake of proper investigation later.

Tarique M Barkatullah was taken to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka at 2:30 pm on Thursday (October 10). Later, Metropolitan Magistrate Mehedi Hasan rejected the bail petition of the accused and ordered to send him to jail.

Advocate Morshed Alam Shahin stood for the accused. “Tareque M Barkatullah is a computer scientist. He only performed state duties while in government service. He cannot be held responsible for the theft of information. At that time, considering the physical condition of the accused, he prayed for bail.

On the other hand, lawyer Amanul Karim Liton assisted the state. Describing the theft and sale of personal information of more than 11 crore citizens as the worst crime in history, he prayed to send the accused to jail.

Former state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak is one of the accused in the case. A source confirmed to Kalbela that Junaid Ahmed Palak, who is arrested and remanded in different cases, is also being interrogated in this regard. Police are also investigating the others involved in the incident.

Recently, media reports revealed that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son and her ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy and former State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak stole the personal information of more than 11 crore Bangladeshi citizens and sold them to about 182 organizations and organizations in the country and abroad to get a fancy ‘e-service’ trap. Police have already received preliminary information about the transaction of at least Tk 20,000 crore in the investigation of this horrific fraud.

On July 17, 2019, Sajeeb Wazed Joy inaugurated the gateway of verification of national identity card named ‘Porichoy’ by increasing government expenditure as a strategy to achieve success. Through this, the accused collected 5 to 15 rupees for every citizen’s personal information through an organization named Digicon Global Services Limited.

Enamul Haque filed the case with Kafrul Police Station on Tuesday night under the Cyber Security Act for stealing the personal information of all national identity card holders of the country. In the case, 19 people, including Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and former director of Data Center Tareque M Barkatullah, were accused.

According to the case dossier, Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Zunaid Ahmed Palak misused their power and sold information about people’s NID cards through an organized racket. The accused allowed Digicon Global Services Limited to do business with various companies using NID information without ensuring national security and the security of citizens’ personal information. The information is sold to about 182 organizations in the country and abroad.