Not good business sense

Land belonging to government-owned truck manufacturer Kamaz is under threat from the mafia.

Masoud Kazemi, head of Kamaz, fears Kamaz could lose all its properties. Already 105 jeribs have been occupied by new developments

Land belonging to government-owned truck manufacturer Kamaz is under threat from the mafia.

Masoud Kazemi, head of Kamaz, fears Kamaz could lose all its properties. Already 105 jeribs have been occupied by new developments for housing and commercial purposes. He says Lego Global usurped 54 jeribs (one jerib is 0.2 hectare) in 2004. Kamaz owns 414 jeribs.

Hekmatullah Qawanech, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport also confirms that tens of jeribs belonging to Kamaz in Kabul have been occupied by “powerful individuals and the Ministry of Transport is trying to restore it.” He believes the land has been taken over by faking documents. “Lego Global has forged documents and following scrutiny the court decided that the company must pay some 350 million Afs (432,280 USD) to the Kabul Municipality as price of the usurped land,” says Qawanech. The municipality was to transfer the money to Kamaz, but Lego Global has ignored the order.

Kazemi says the land was lost in the time of his predecessor, Mohammad Naser Sultani, between 2010 and 2011. Killid spoke to Sultani who admitted that Lego Global took land away, but the government did nothing. A colony of tents was put up in the compound of the factory for refugees from the war in Afghanistan.

Jaihoon, who represents a drivers’ union, confirms tents for refugees were pitched in the compound but, according to him, they were not used. He says Kamaz employees have been protesting the takeover of the company’s land and “quarrelling daily” with the usurpers. The government has been silent despite repeated petitions about the blatant private occupation of public-owned lands.

Indifference alleged

Meanwhile, investors of the buildings have also been petitioning the government to no avail. Abdul Jabar Safi who is the deputy head of an industrialists union in Afghanistan says, “When investors want to invest in a sector the government doesn’t support them with land while powerful individuals have usurped all government lands to use as they please.” Not just Kamaz property but land belonging to other government-owned entities have been usurped or threatened by mafia. Time and again, the government ignores the encroachments.

Kamaz is not just losing immovable assets like land but investigations by Killid reveal it has been selling brand-new trucks as scrap for the metal. The sale was ordered by the council of ministers. Once a money-spinner, the company has been suffering colossal losses. There are some 300 employees on the rolls of the truck manufacturer, originally building a model of a truck that was designed in the former Soviet Union.

Kamaz chief Kazemi says, “Many trucks of Kamaz were sold for the price of the weight of iron and no one objected.” The price was set at 9,510 Afs (137 USD) for every tonne of iron. Kamaz officials reckon the trucks were worth between 400,000 and 500,000 Afs (5,765 and 7,206 USD) each.

Sultani, the former head of Kamaz, denies he was responsible for selling trucks as scrap. “What was done was on the basis of an order by the council of ministers and Ministry of Finance. (Kamzan) authorities have no hand in it,” he says.

Finance ministry officials are not taking responsibility. Jan Mohammad Mohmand who heads the state-owned enterprises department in the ministry says, “The delegation (from the finance ministry) was just monitoring contracts and selling old iron. The authority to identify old iron was Kamaz’s.”

Mohammad Dawood, a technical assistant at Kamaz says, “All that was sold was tools and scrap. Nothing useful.” Qawanech says, “The Ministry of Transport has not found any documents or evidence (of misuse).”