Nearly 100 Passport Fraud Cases Referred to Police

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NASSAU , BAHAMAS – The number of suspected passport fraud cases referred to police are continuing to climb.

Officials confirmed on Thursday that the number is inching closer into the triple digits.

Our Joshua Williams was at the Office of the Prime Minister, where the chief passport officer gave an update on the situation.

Wednesday in the House of Assembly, Opposition leader, Michael Pintard tabled seventy four names, he said is under investigation for passport fraud, with eight of those names, currently on the voter registry.

However, Chief Passport Officer, Nicholas Symonette revealed there’s actually more.

Nicholas Symonette – Chief Passport Officer

“At present the passport office has referred 98 cases to the police for investigation. The list of 74 names referenced publicly represents an earlier subset of those referrals. The existence of these cases should not be interpreted as a failure of the system. Rather it demonstrates that the strengthened review process now in place are successfully identifying irregularities and ensuring that suspect fraud is referred to the appropriate authorities for investigation and possible prosecution.”

So what’s this review process, Symonette is referring to?

He said an old policy back in 2019 allowed renewal applicants to submit only a limited set of documents, helping to speed up the process, but at the same time putting the integrity of the system at risk.

Nicholas Symonette – Chief Passport Officer

“Under the restored framework, new passport applications pass through eight stages of review, while renewal applications undergo at least six verification steps, including document validation and identity checks.”

The issue of fraudulent passports is one that Prime Minister Philip Davis has previously addressed saying while concerning, it does not directly impact national security.

Both FNM and COI leadership, called for a closer look into the voters registry due to fraud.

In a statement, the Parliamentary Registration Department said while they’ve been removing names that should not be there, there’s no need to attack civil servants.

But what about those bad apples?

Nicholas Symonette – Chief Passport Officer

“The police job is to investigate that aspect of our job is to identify if it doesn’t go to the police they can’t investigate who all is involved and you’ve see him before passport staff have been charged right and that investigation was allowed to continue and that is the process”

Nicholas Symonette – Chief Passport Officer

“Matters involving suspected fraud must be allowed to proceed through the proper investigation, investigative and jurisdiction of jurisdiction and proceed procedures without undo public speculation or political pressure”