THIS is a welcome move that the Anti-Corruption Commission, which has found that some public servants have secretly obtained dual citizenship and used their foreign passports to conceal their illegal wealth and to syphon money abroad, has begun an inquiry to find out public servants having dual citizenship. The commission, as part of the inquiry, wrote to secretaries to all the ministries on January 5, seeking information on public servants having dual citizenship or owning foreign passports. The commission has said that some public servants have concealed information on their obtaining and using passports of other countries. Such people stay in other countries to avoid facing punishment in drives that the commission runs, by protecting themselves from legal action and covering up their misdeeds. Public servants鈥� having dual citizenship is in direct contravention with Section 40 of the Government Services Act 2018. Article 66 of the constitution also disqualifies individuals who acquire citizenship or affirm allegiance to a foreign state for election as or for being members of parliament or ministers. A cabinet approval of February 2023 allows Bangladeshis to have dual citizenship with 101 countries and the immigration police in February 2021 submitted a list of about 14,000 Bangladeshis having dual citizenship to the office of the attorney general in compliance with a High Court directive.
Whilst dual citizenship affords many advantages to private individuals, bi-nationals, or individuals with dual citizenship, does not have the right to run for public office, as laid out in the constitution and the Government Services Act 2018. And, the proposition should also include positions such as judge, prosecutor or employment in intelligence services or the police as people with divided allegiance, a half mortgaged to a foreign state, are no good for the greater good of the country. Individuals having dual citizenship should be strictly kept out of public and political administration, not only because of the reasons that the Anti-Corruption Commission appears to be dealing with, illicit capital flight and a safeguard against legal action for such crimes, but also because of their divided loyalty. The commission in December 2024 wrote to secretaries of the Election Commission and the home affairs ministry seeking action against 24 former Awami League ministers and members of parliament who were earlier found to be holding dual citizenship; seven of them were holding US citizenship or green cards. The Transparency International Bangladesh executive director, who equates public servants鈥� obtaining dual citizenship and hiding information with cheating that violates legislation at multiple layers, says that the commission should have taken the move much earlier, as illicit financial flow is a crime that falls under the commission鈥檚 jurisdiction.
Whilst the government should find out such public servants, it should also employ other agencies and deploy other methods to find them out. Both the government and the commission should take appropriate legal action against them. The government should ensure that bi-nationals have no place in public and political administration.
