The arrest of two senior officials for corruption in the Kabul Municipality has been widely reported as evidence of the government’s efforts to counter corruption.
President Ashraf Ghani has also reshuffled some 40 high-ranking officials in the Attorney General’s Office (AG’s Office) and heads of provincial appeals courts.
The arrest of two senior officials for corruption in the Kabul Municipality has been widely reported as evidence of the government’s efforts to counter corruption.
President Ashraf Ghani has also reshuffled some 40 high-ranking officials in the Attorney General’s Office (AG’s Office) and heads of provincial appeals courts.
Both are welcome news in a country plagued by corruption. Farid Hamidi, lead prosecutor in the AG’s Office said fighting corruption was a priority. “A system to check corruption would soon be put in place,” he told the press. The AG’s Office will work to restore people’s confidence in the justice system, he promised. “Hereafter the judicial and justice system would act as machines to counter administrative corruption so that the problems in government offices are comprehensively uprooted,” he explained.
However, the government has not been able to win over all sceptics. Some people do not see much value in the government’s claim of tackling corruption. Raihana Azad, Member of Parliament from Uruzgan province, said there is little evidence to show the government is serious. “The failure to punish the guilty is one of the main problems,” she said.
Beheshta Asi, a civil society activist in Kabul, said there has to be a change in their mentality for people to follow laws and “cooperate with the government” to fight corruption.
The government of national unity has not much to show in big corruption cases like Kabul Bank and the controversy over a new and ambitious township called Shahrak-e Hoshmand or Smart City. The latter was inaugurated last November but the presence of a man convicted for embezzlement and money laundering in Kabul Bank in the project has proved hard for the government to defend.
Abdul Aziz Aryayee, chief of the committee probing corruption, has not given the government a clean chit in the case. “We are not satisfied regarding the performances of government of national unity in countering administrative corruption.”
Chief prosecutor Hamidi said the dossiers (in corruption cases) were being investigated “seriously” and “we are committed”.
The two Kabul Municipality officials who have arrested are Engineer Mohammad Aslam Akrami, deputy mayor administrative and finance and Ahmad Kamal Qasimyar, head of the Human Resources department. The two have been defended by engineer Shamsullah Najafi who wrote on Facebook that the accusations are wrong. “Why is it that big corruption is not heeded? A commission should have investigated the charges before the arrests,” he says.
In 2009, the AG’s Office arrested then Kabul mayor, Abdul Ahad Sahebi, on the charge of accepting bribes. He was subsequently released by then president Hamid Karzai.
Ghor
Eight officials in the province were jailed on corruption charges in March. In a speedy trial, the three were convicted and jailed for three months. The arrests were made on complaints from then Ghor governor Sima Joyenda. She showed they had a hand in the embezzlement of a 117 million Afs-contract for the construction of the police headquarters (roughly 1.7 million USD).
The names of Mohammad Amin Tokhi, ex-deputy governor, Mohammad Yusuf Danyar, mastofi (head of revenue office), Abdul Haq Rasouli, manager of revenues, Nurudin, administrative manager, Mastofiat, (governor’s financial office), Abdul Samad, manager-procurements, engineer Khairudin, the head of urban development and Ghulam Mohammad Paiman, head of the administrative department in the governor’s were among those on the list sent to Ferozkoh city court and sent to jail.
Ghor Governor Ghulam Naser Khaze has been quoted saying that the punishments handed out to the accused would serve as a warning to others. Earlier, the chief of the province’s “primary court” was arrested on charges of administration corruption following the order of the Supreme Court.
Ministry of Education
Seven employees in the ministry were arrested by the police for being involved in a case of embezzlement of 26 million Afs (377,000 USD). Abdul Ghayoor, chief of crime prevention in the Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a press conference that there were documents to prove the charges. The case involved a contract in 2013 for the construction of two dormitories in the office of the deputy minister of technical and vocational department, Ministry of Education. The arrested officials were from the engineering department and the deputy minister’s office. Some others who were allegedly involved have fled the country, he told the press. More arrests in the case are likely.
Meanwhile, Sidiq Sidiqi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs told reporters at the same press conference that three employees of Breshna, the power utility, were arrested for collecting 2,100 Afs (30 USD)as bribes from individual consumers in Kabul’s 17 districts.
The Afghan government of national unity and the European Union recently held a strategy meeting on the “direction” of efforts to counter corruption. These were preliminary steps, President Ghani told the meeting. “The Afghan people elected me and I have promised them that I will seriously fight corruption. Here I want to tell my people and you (donor countries) that there are no differences between Afghanistan and international community regarding the fight against corruption.” Meanwhile, the government of Afghanistan is committed to reporting progress on tackling corruption at upcoming conferences in Warsaw and Brussels.
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