Ihusaan confesses to filling forms at DNR, says “others did it too”

Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan has confessed to filling forms at the Department of National Registration (DNR) and claimed that they used the meeting room there.

Responding to the no-confidence motion against his at the People’s Majlis, Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan said that when people were being recruited to the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), party leaders asked each minister to increase membership by a certain amount.

He was tasked with obtaining at least 500 forms, and the plan was to assign this responsibility to all political parties. He said that 50 political staff at the Home Ministry were each assigned to obtain at least 10 or 15 forms. Forms brought under this system were handed over to the State Ministers of the ministry, and Ihusaan said that the photos being leaked would also be in that group.

Ihusaan said that form-filling work was done at a DNR meeting room in the evening. When the forms were brought in filled, the witness section was left blank, and the work of putting fingerprints, signatures, and filling in details in the witness section was done at the meeting room.

With that, photos sent through digital media and WhatsApp/Viber platforms were printed and attached to forms, and the work of completing forms was done here (in the DNR office meeting room). Although not a legal offense, it's not good for political staff to do political work. Especially doing such things inside an institution like DNR that has public trust will raise questions about the trust people have. We have instructed that no such activities should be done in our institution.”

Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan

Ihusaan highlighted that this is not something new. Political work has been done by political leaders at government institutions before. He said such things have been done before, but as a state minister, he won't allow such things in the future.

Ihusaan said that although it's not against laws and regulations, such things should not be done in a dignified office.

Ihusaan said he also visited the form-filling place twice. The first time was when political parties ordered pizza and asked him to come, and the second time was when he went to submit the forms but was told they weren't packed yet, so he went there.

The photos were being sent to a group of about fifty-sixty people. If it was something being done secretly and deceptively, no one would send photos to a group of 50 people.”

Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusaan

Ihusaan said that while over 40,000 forms were submitted to PNC, if he had used DNR data to recruit people, he would have only submitted 1,700 forms. He added that if that system was used to recruit people, 40,000 forms would have been submitted.

However, while Ihusaan has said this, senior political staff in charge of DNR have told the media that PNC forms were filled in their meeting room, and the meeting room was given that day at the minister's request.

From the photos that became public, it is evident that DNR's data computer system and the screen in the meeting room were being used, and the photos taken and attached to forms are old ID card photos people had given to make ID cards.

In addition to this, MP for Central Maafannu constituency Asma Rasheed has asserted that fake forms are being filled within PNC, and this is being done by changing the color of the clothes the person is wearing in the ID card photo.