PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa transport department has formed a committee to investigate the alleged use of fake Pakistani driving licences to obtain licences in Hong Kong and Australia.

The probe was prompted by letters from the National Accountability Bureau and the Foreign Office over complaints about several driving licences issued by the department.

A senior transport official told Dawn that the three-member committee would look into the matter before putting up its findings to the NAB.

He said the issue came to light as Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) requested assistance from the NAB through a letter on Jan 19, revealing that 89 Pakistani applicants obtained Hong Kong driving licences by producing fake Pakistani driving licences and false verification letters.

Transport department acts on complaints from Hong Kong, Australia

The letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, reads, “The Hong Kong ICAC is investigating a case, which concerns the allegation that an unidentified staff member of consulate general of Pakistan in Hong Kong might have accepted advantages from Hong Kong driving licence applicants of Pakistani nationality through a middleman for issuing letters to verify the authenticity of their Pakistani driving licences.”

It added that the investigation didn’t find any officer of the consulate general involved in the matter but the driving licences and verification letters produced by those Pakistani applicants turned out to be fake.

“Eighty-nine applicants obtained Hong Kong driving licences by submitting false Pakistani licences and fake verification letters to Hong Kong’s transport department,” it said.

In the letter, ICAC chief liaison officer Wing-yin Gary requested the NAB chairman to “identify an officer of the KP transport department to be interviewed by an officer of the commission on the matter.

On Jan 5, the NAB chairman formally asked the transport secretary to “confirm the authenticity” of those Pakistani driving licences.

“It is requested that a relevant well-versed officer be nominated who can be interviewed by the ICAC for the

purpose and the contact details of the same be shared with this bureau [NAB] for onward transmission to the ICAC Hong Kong at the earliest,” reads the NAB letter.

In another development, the Foreign Office has urged the KP government to probe the issuance of “dubious” driving licences in the province insisting they’re used in Australia to obtain the local driving licences.

It also called for a stronger oversight mechanism in the transport department to monitor licence issuance as well as a thorough review of the procedures to identify gaps leading to licence issuance without due process.

In a letter to the provincial chief secretary, a director of the Foreign Office noted that Australia had reported several cases of the issuance and verification of dubious driving licences by some countries, leading to their revocation as well as the cancellation of the nationality of those licence-holders.

“The Pakistani High Commission and consulates general in Australia processed applications from Pakistani nationals residing in Australia for verification of their Pakistani driving licences issued by Pakistani authorities, including the KP transport department.

“Several incidents have occurred in Australia where dubious driver licences issued and verified by foreign countries have been revoked, leading to the cancellation of nationalities for individuals holding such licences,” read the letter, adding that any serious accident by an individual could prompt an investigation into the authenticity of a previously held foreign licence.

The Foreign Office revealed that a significant number of KP transport licence verification requests were submitted in Australia by Pakistanis, who were not even the residents of the province.

It complained that the format of official communication lacked authenticity as the response by the transport department to the high commission’s letters was from a Gmail account instead of an official account domain and that it lacked signatures of the relevant officer.

The Foreign Office also pointed out the issuance of several driving licences by the transport department to underage people. It added that a female applicant’s driving licence was found to be counterfeit as it carried the name of the KP government but showed Lahore as the place of issuance.

“Some fake driving licences were more sophisticated,” it observed in the letter.

The Foreign Office also noted that many Pakistanis, who applied for driving licences in Australia, were being issued their first-ever licence without having a personal presence in Pakistan.

It recommended that the transport department consider upgrading the security features of driving licences, such as adding biometric identification or unique QR codes, to prevent the production of counterfeit licences and improve their overall security.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024