Election Commission has scrapped the national ID cards of the two brothers of former army chief General (retd) Aziz Ahmed.

The four NIDs of Haris Ahmed and Tofael Ahmed alias Joseph have been scrapped, Shariful Alam, director (Public Relations) of Election Commission confirmed The Daily Star.

They will not be able to avail any facility with the NID cards in the country, the EC director said.

The move came more than three months after the EC in June this year started investigation into the allegations that the two brothers obtained the NIDs “using false information”.

EC sources said several media reported that in Joseph’s mother’s application for remission of his sentence, she mentioned Abdul Wadud and Renuja Begum as the parents of Joseph.

But Haris took a NID (national ID) card under the name Mohammad Hasan using the names Suleman Sarkar and Rahela Begum as his parents. He also changed his photo in the NID card in 2019. The then, army chief General (retd) Aziz Ahmed made the recommendations for changing the photo, the sources said.

Joseph had two NIDs. One card has mentioned Abdul Wadud and Renuja Begum as his parents. He used his name as Tanvir Ahmed Tanjeel, with names of parents as Suleman Sarkar and Rahela Begum in another ID cards.

On May 21, the US imposed sanctions on Aziz and his immediate family members for what it said was his involvement in significant corruption.

“Aziz Ahmed engaged in significant corruption by interfering in public processes while helping his brother evade accountability for criminal activity in Bangladesh,” read a part of the press statement of the US State Department.

Aziz, however, denied the allegations.

Aziz was the chief of army staff between June 2018 and June 2021. He led Border Guard Bangladesh between 2012 and 2016.

Both Haris and Joseph are now believed to be abroad.