Official: No discrepancies in issuance of passports to model’s children
Husband made police report that old passports were lost, says department
PETALING JAYA: The Immigration Department has denied any breakdown in procedure in issuing new passports to the children of model Zahnita Dorothy Hussein Wilson, who are at the centre of a custody dispute between the parents.
Sakib Kusmi, the deputy director-general, said Zahnita’s husband Abd Zackery Ghouse, had lodged a police report that the children’s passports had gone missing. The old passports were cancelled and new ones issued.
Zahnita has said that new passports had been issued although she had their passports in her possession, after discovering that her husband had taken the children overseas for a holiday, despite her holding their passports.
Yesterday, Persatuan Penguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) questioned if there were discrepancies in procedures.
However, the Immigration official said procedures had been followed. “We cancelled the old passports based on the supporting documents,” Sakib said referring to a police report made by the husband.
Zahnita had claimed that a police report was not lodged before new passports were issued.
Sakib said the confusion may have stemmed from miscommunication between the couple, or that Abd Zackery had lodged an erroneous police report and Zahnita was unaware that the old passports had been cancelled.
On Zahnita’s concerns that her children could be detained if they were found to be using invalid documents upon reentry to the country, Sakib said the department could not simply detain Malaysians without a court order, so this was an unlikely scenario.
Yesterday, FMT reported that PPIM activist Mazlina Abu Bakar had called on authorities to investigate the matter. She said she feared abuse of power in the Immigration Department.
