The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested eight immigration officers and two civilians for allegedly receiving money from people to process passports at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services offices in Lilongwe.
ACB acting Director General Hilary Chilomba said this when he addressed hundreds of people who were waiting to have their passport applications processed on Thursday.
“ACB investigators camped here on Wednesday and Thursday. We conducted investigations after receiving information about alleged corrupt practices happening here. Our investigations led to the arrest of one immigration inspector. One of the suspects had K2.5 million and bags full of passports,” Chilomba said.
Chilomba said some of those arrested were found with money ranging from K700,000 to K400,000.
He also said it was found that some people were paying K200,000 on top of the K50,000 passport fee to access the passport.
He said investigations were still ongoing.
The department’s commissioner for operations Fletcher Nyirenda confirmed the development but refused to comment further as the matter is in ACB’s hands.
Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security stormed the offices on Thursday following alleged complaints from service users.
The committee urged the department to improve its operations and refrain from corrupt practices.
Chairperson for the committee Salim Bagus said nothing good was coming from the department.
“The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security has received numerous complaints from the public concerning inefficiencies and difficulties in obtaining passports. These issues potentially affect national security and citizens’ rights to freedom of movement,” Bagus said.
He said delays in accessing passport application forms tended to delay processing times for express passport applications.
However, Nyirenda, informed the committee that the department is printing between 900 and 1,000 passports per day countrywide due to limited resources.
He said the current system is temporary, adding that, by December this year, the department is expected to offload all the backlog and find a permanent system to print more passports.
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