Chief Passport Officer, Nicholas Symonette responded to comments concerning passport fraud on Tuesday. According to a statement from the Free National Movement two work permit holders and a teen obtained Bahamian passports using forged documents. FNM Senator Darren Henfield has called for an audit.

In response Symonette told ZNS News, “when cases come before us when cases are found, which all these cases were found out audit that was started at the Passport Office not someone tipping us off. Us doing an internal audit with Immigration and NIB and this is how we’ve been finding out about these cases and we’re taking proper action on them. The only difference is that we’re taking action.”

The Chief Passport Officer went further stating, “our protocols are stronger now than ever. The system was designed where all applicants whether they at renewing or new applicants go through the same verification process. At some point in time, I wouldn’t say that period, that was weakened. That was weakened by a decision that was made outside of Foreign Affairs based on the records, that renewals are just renewals, they should not be asked for anything else. So what that was doing was creating a system where people were just clicking and renewing without any review. We have done away with that.”