2023-11-20 13:17:33
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In a press release made public on November 16, 2023, the NGO Bénin Diaspora Assistance led by Médard Koudébi denounces thousands of cases of fraud at ANIP. The organization highlights the malfunctions of the ANIP which allowed thousands of people to defraud their identity by obtaining authentic documents issued by the ANIP. To correct the situation, Bénin Diaspora Assistance recommends a general audit of the ANIP files “in order to be able to relate to each CIP number how the holder is Beninese”.
Here is the entire press release made public last Thursday
ANIP-BENIN: BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE ORIGIN OF MASSIVE FRAUD AND HOW THIS REFORM BY PRESIDENT PATRICE TALON WAS SABOTTED
1- During the first meeting at the presidency of all security entities concerned by the development of personal identification, several executives were invited including the then DEI Colonel DÈDO, Madame BOCOVO, Mr. DRI of the At the time, the Comptroller General WANOU and the Director of Judicial Identity, Commissioner Emmanuel TONOUKOUN. All these executives had been given responsibility each in their field so that the state achieves the expected result and to this end, several workshops followed this first meeting at the presidency.
2- Unfortunately, during the practical phase and mainly at the start of the enlistments, to this day no one knows why the director of the ANIP at the time Mr. Cyrille GOUGBEDJI did not agree to allow the verification of the authenticity of documents before their security, neither to the technical and scientific police nor to judicial identity.
3- A small investigation into the absence of the technical and scientific police during this pilot phase of the reforms allowed us to collect information that the presence of the police in the ANIP team would have caused the failure of the reform, and that moreover, the world bank which also contributes to the financing would not have given its agreement for this reform. This absence of the police is today at the origin of the disaster and massive fraud at ANIP. This is how at the beginning of the advent, the majority of foreigners staying in Benin for studies, or for other reasons as well as those in an irregular situation all took advantage of the flaws in this reform, exploiting in the process the ambient poverty of the country. They therefore massively approached women in financial difficulty who were not eligible for microcredit due to lack of guarantee on the one hand, and certain families in food difficulty on the other hand to offer to provide them with copies of their identity documents so that They can redo their birth certificates in their country of origin. In clear terms, it is now a question of putting the names of these Beninese women as mothers on their false birth certificates in order to be able to benefit from Beninese nationality. These purchases of miserable mothers on paper in Benin directly open the way for them to the right to Beninese nationality under the right of blood.
The advantage for this maternal fraud (to these buyers of mothers on paper) allowed them to easily have Beninese nationality as well as all the advantages. Once the false mother’s nationality certificate has been established, however, these foreigners retain their initial diplomas and places of birth so as not to have any problems during their university studies if they are still on the benches.
4 – Other foreigners residing in Benin have instead opted to purchase false Beninese birth certificates with places of birth in any town in Beninese territory, which allows them to have Beninese nationality under the right of ground. The latter, because they were born on Beninese territory, are automatically registered by ANIP in the national civil status file, which gives them the right to Beninese nationality. Unfortunately, those who have already obtained university degrees in their country of origin with a place of birth in a city authentic to that of their true identity and who maliciously find themselves today with a Beninese nationality experience a blockage in the university curriculum due to defect compliance.
Example: Today we have several cases of nationals from Central Africa, one of whom has already obtained the Baccalaureate in Chad, today finds himself blocked given the fact that on the real false passport { N ° 21 PP 43 781 } of this non-naturalized foreigner obtained on December 28, 2021, his place of birth is mentioned as Cotonou in Benin, while on his Bac statement, the place of birth is CHAD.
5 – There are other real Beninese actually born in Benin, seeking professional visas for certain Gulf countries but affected by the age criterion, who have gone to redo other birth certificates in order to reduce or increase their age as appropriate. In this lot, some even hold old passports and yet manage to have new ones issued. Our investigations on this subject allowed us to discover that there is a mafia network on site through which they erase their fingerprints to prevent the system from finding their first file.
Example: We have the example of a girl born on December 19, 2003 at 7:10 a.m. and enrolled in ANIP, but who managed to obtain a passport {No. 21 PP 32 845} on November 17, 2021, and this , with a second false birth certificate bearing the date of birth on November 19, 1998, an increase of five (05) years in age.
The two birth certificates from 1998 and 2003 represent the same person. This is what we call duplicates. In the event of an upcoming election, the algorithm will select it and schedule it in two polling stations. Imagine how many duplicates are created in the ANIP database and the repercussions this would have on the electoral list.
Example: We have another 48 year old lady living in SEME-PODJI, who for reasons of domestic work travel criteria in Lebanon, reduced her age gap by 23 years, was enlisted and obtained a passport {No. 22 PP 49 796}.
It was in order to save his mother that his 22-year-old son contacted us and we gave him the instructions to follow to prevent his mother from leaving the territory. How can you be 25 while your son is 22 if it’s not the magic of ANIP?
6- Some professional fraud politicians used to make our neighbors in the villages of neighboring countries (Burkina Faso, North and South Togo, Niger, and Nigeria) vote in order to win the elections. In order not to lose their voters in the upcoming elections, they take advantage of each new opportunity to enlist these foreigners from villages bordering our country on the basis of false testimony. Furthermore, in case of doubt about the presumed minors holding Beninese passports having beards down to the lower abdomen, when certain states request the bone test in order to be able to define their real age, we realize that the 23% of people tested benefited from forged administrative documents from ANIP when leaving Benin.
All the investigations carried out have led us to a chain of complicity at all levels of the state apparatus. At the level of town halls, at the level of former CAs which have still kept their stamp, at the level of ANIP, at the level of the Ministry of Justice which sometimes issues certificates of nationality and criminal records on the basis of false documents and sometimes at the level of level of immigration which sometimes tries, when it is not complicit, to disentangle certain facts from falsehoods. Unfortunately, when immigration sometimes decides to carry out investigations in case of doubt, certain people close to the head of state, members of the government and certain politicians from the party close to the head of state, sometimes put pressure on honest agents. even with intimidation. President PATRICE TALON, who is often not informed of much, is thus the victim of the breach of trust of some of those close to him.
We regret that ANIP, after having recorded hundreds of thousands of false documents that it secures, now declines all responsibility, including false testimony not verified before bail during mobile hearings. Better, concerning Beninese in the diaspora, given that the law before the creation of ANIP obliges all Beninese born abroad to make a declaration of birth in the consulates and embassies on which their country of birth depends within 30 days, why did ANIP not require this minimum which is the declaration receipt within the reasonable period of 30 days from the chancelleries of their country of birth before registration?
Why did ANIP not let the technical and scientific police as well as the judicial identity police do their verification work before any security?
How long will we continue sabotage, identity fraud, nationality fraud and the issuance of real false identity documents in the Republic of Benin?
For what interest do certain deputies for the presidential movement attack the director of immigration in the national assembly just because he does his job in the best interest of the nation?_
RECOMMENDATIONS:
-The NGO Office thanks all the magistrates and the Republican police of Benin for this difficult work that they are doing following our denunciations. Since September 5, 2022 to date, more than 2,000 fraudsters secured by ANIP have already been arrested, among whom several hundred have already been convicted. In 12 months of denunciation, […] we succeeded in uncovering several counterfeiters. However, despite all efforts to sanctify the ANIP database, many fraudsters arrested and convicted following our denunciations still continue to have their false secure documents in the ANIP database.
-We purely and simply recommend a general and independent audit of the ANIP files in order to be able to relate to each CIP number how the holder is Beninese.
-That it be required for all persons born abroad, the declaration form on the correct date of their birth in the consulates of Benin abroad or failing that, that the state automatically carries out a test of DNA between the beneficiary and the Beninese parent exhibited on any foreign birth certificate.
-That ANIP sets up a system of systematic removal of real false documents, objects of conviction already pronounced.
-As for the others who bought dates of birth with a Beninese town as their place of birth to fraudulently register with ANIP, it will be necessary to carry out a careful investigation into their different places of residence from their birth through their studies primary, secondary and university in Benin with the aim of bringing order to the falsehood that ANIP is securing today.
Paris, November 16, 2023
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