Obtaining a biometric passport in Tajikistan has become a private business, according to an investigative journalism report. Cases of corruption have been recorded at Passport Offices in Tajikistan, and some employees overcharge for citizens’ passports.
According to the procedures approved on the basis of a government decision, since 1 February 2010 (archive), the Passport and Registration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been issuing passports to ordinary citizens for a period of 10 years. The production period is 15 days. According to the website of this department (archive), citizens have to pay the following amount of money to obtain a foreign passport:
– 75 USD for the passport form (at the exchange rate set by the National Bank of Tajikistan);
– 102 somoni (9.7 USD) state duty;
– 40 somoni (3.6 USD) fee for the Passport Office.
Total – about 88.3 USD.
According to the procedure established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (archive), citizens pay the cost of a passport in Amonatbonk and submit the relevant receipt to Passport Offices.
However, in practice, the system works differently – all fees bypass the bank, and the payment for the production of passports is collected locally by the passport and registration service employees themselves.
Who turned public service into a business?
On 7 February 2023, we sent a journalist to the Passport Issuance and Registration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at 5 Mirzo Tursunzoda Street in Dushanbe to obtain a travelling passport.
When the journalist came to the passport centre, he was told to go to room 11. Here he was asked for his ID card and was photographed. The passport centre employee demanded to pay 1,030 somoni (94.59 USD) for the production of the passport within 15 days. For the purity of the experiment, the journalist said nothing and paid the fee.
The Passport Office employee did not give any receipt for this amount. He only issued a document stating that the passport would be issued on 21 February.
As of 7 February 2023, the cost of a passport was about $88.3 at the exchange rate of the National Bank of Tajikistan (archive).
The issued document does not indicate the cost paid for the passport in any way. Zero somoni was indicated in the amount column. The number of the receipt was also indicated. However, the journalist was not given any receipt.
A similar situation occurs in other cities and districts. On 25 April 2023, S.M., a resident of Hisor City, went to the Passport Office to obtain a foreign passport. He claims that the Passport Office staff took 1,100 somoni (about 101 USD) from him for issuing a passport within 15 working days.
However, the price of the passport as of 25 April at the exchange rate set by the National Bank was only 960 somoni (US $87).
“I offered to pay one thousand somoni now and the remaining hundred somoni upon receiving the passport, but they did not agree. In the end, I paid them 1,100 somoni (101 US dollars),” said a resident of Hisor (the editorial office has an audio recording of the citizen’s words and his full name).
On 19 April, a journalist, as a citizen, asked the head of the Passport Office in the Faizobod district what documents were needed to obtain a foreign passport.
“Just show your internal passport and that’s it,” said an employee of the Passport Office.
At the same time, it is written on the board in front of his door that in order to obtain a foreign passport one should also present a receipt from Amonatbonk.
However, the employee of the department issuing international passports of this Passport Office said that the fee for the passport could be paid on the spot, i.e. to him.
“We don’t collect money for international passports, they do it themselves”
There is a branch of Amonatbonk 200 metres away from the passport office of Faizobod district, according to the rules it is necessary to pay money in that bank to obtain a passport. An employee of Amonatbonk reported that “no one has come to pay for a passport for several months. Mostly schoolchildren come to pay money to get an internal passport” (there is an audio recording of the words of the bank employee).
The same situation is observed in Vahdat city. At a distance of 50 metres from the passport office there is a branch of Amonatbonk. They informed us that they do not accept payment for passports, and even if they do, there is “no guarantee” that a passport will be issued with this receipt. The employee of the Amonatbonk office advised us to “hand over the money at the passport office itself”.
“We don’t collect money for international passports, they do it themselves. Money for international passports is not being collected here at all. I don’t know where they bring them. We only take money for the domestic passport,” said an employee of Amonatbonk (the editorial office has an audio recording of the bank employee’s words).
The journalist recalled that according to the regulations, Amonatbonk has to accept payment for the passport.
“I don’t care. I will accept it and give you a receipt. But when you bring it to the Passport Office, they usually find some excuse not to accept it. In this case, I won’t be able to accept the receipt back and refund the money,” the bank employee said in response.
Our observation in the Passport Offices of Bokhtar City, Vakhsh and Kushoniyon districts also showed that Passport Office employees themselves accept payment from citizens for issuing passports. In particular, a citizen who submitted documents to the passport office in Bokhtar on 24 April said that they charged him 1,120 somoni, about US $102, to issue a passport within 15 working days. However, according to information from the Amonatbonk branch in Bokhtar, the cost of a foreign passport on 24 April was 970 somoni, or about 88 USD (the editorial office has an audio recording of the words of the citizen and the bank employee).
The Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On State Duty” (archive) stipulates that all means of state duty must be paid in banks or their branches “with the issuance of a receipt in the prescribed form”. According to the rules for issuing a passport of a citizen of the Republic of Tajikistan (archive), “a receipt of payment of the established amount for the issuance of a passport” is one of the basis for issuing a passport.
State Bank Amonatbonk also wrote to us in its official response that based on the General Agreement dated 3 January 2017, funds for the services of the Passport and Registration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are accepted in the branches of this bank. Acceptance of payment for an international passport is a service of Amonatbonk and must be paid in the bank on the basis of the law “On State Duty” and the General Agreement. According to lawyers, taking into account these provisions, employees of the Passport Offices have no right to charge a citizen a passport fee or additional funds.
Bribery and Extortion: Legal Analysis of Passport Irregularities
Shukhrat Jabborov, a lawyer at the Mir Zakona organisation, said that an employee who takes more money from a citizen than he or she is entitled to can be prosecuted under Article 316 of the Criminal Code, i.e., abuse of power.
Our numerous attempts to speak to a representative of the Passport and Registration Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were unsuccessful. We twice sent an official enquiry to the Minister of Internal Affairs, as the Passport and Registration Service is a subordinate institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In our letters sent on 15 March and 19 April, we asked Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda whether an employee of the Passport Office has the right to charge a citizen a passport fee. However, the MIA did not respond to any of our queries.
Attempts to talk to the head of the Passport and Registration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Huseyn Khalilzoda, were also unsuccessful. On 12 May we sent an official letter to Khalilzoda, but two months later we still have not received a reply. We tried several times to talk to him in person, but we could not find him at his workplace.
The silence of the MIA and the Passport and Registration Service occurs at the same time as other investigative agencies confirm the existence of corruption at Passport Offices.
Sukhrob Safarzoda, first deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, wrote to us in an official response that from 2015 to the first quarter of 2023, they identified 16 offences by passport service officials. Of these:
— 7 cases of fraud (art. 247 of the Criminal Code).
— 3 cases of bribery (Criminal Code, art. 319).
— 2 cases of theft or embezzlement (art. 245 of the Criminal Code).
— 2 cases of official forgery (art. 323 of the Criminal Code).
— 1 case of abuse of official power (art. 314 of the Criminal Code).
— 1 case of passport forgery (article 340 of the Criminal Code).
However, these are only the offences detected by the Anti-Corruption Agency. In Tajikistan, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself and the SCNS have the right to initiate criminal proceedings.
The First Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency wrote to us in his response that his staff meet twice a year with the subordinate structures of the internal affairs bodies to prevent corruption. The website of the Passport and Registration Service also published a news article about a “service lesson on the topic of countering corruption” (archive).
An employee of the Passport and Registration Service, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that due to the introduction of a cashless payment system for public services from August 1, payment for obtaining passports will be made in a non-cash form.
He added, “The transition to a cashless payment system will reduce corruption in Passport Offices. I am confident that after the introduction of this system, the shortcomings you mentioned will disappear,” our interlocutor said.
From 1 August, Tajikistan will introduce a system of cashless payment for public services. The authorities believe that this measure will improve the efficiency and transparency of public services and reduce the potential for corrupt practices.
“Combating Corruption in Tajikistan’s Passport Centres: Digitalisation and Raising Wages”
Experts say non-cash payments alone will not resolve the issue.
Nur Safarov, an economic expert, said the payment process must be digitised to reduce corruption in the Passport Offices.
According to the expert, it is also important to raise the salaries of employees of the Passport Offices and their standard of living.
“So they wouldn’t think of getting involved in corruption. They should be well paid to provide public services at a high professional level,” Safarov added.