Senior Farah officials sacked, referred to AGO

FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): Accused of causing a huge loss to the national exchequer, a number of senior officials of western Farah province have been fired and referred to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Presidential Palace said on Monday.

The six officials sacked include acting Governor Mohammad Omar Sherzad, police chief Mohammad Razaq Yaqubi, provincial National Directorate of Security (NDS) head Najibullah, Customs Director Wakman Shagiwal and anti-corruption director.

A statement from the Presidential Palace said the officials had been involved in allowing imports of fuel from Iran to Farah without paying taxes to the government, causing $6.2m losses to the exchequer.

The statement said all the accused officials had been introduced to the AGO for investigations and the Ministry of Interior had been ordered to ban their exit from the country.

The fired officials would be replaced by their deputies until their replacements were announced, the statement added.

The president also ordered detaining oil importers Mohammad Sadiq, Lal Shah, Syed Shah and Ihsan for importing fuel from Iran without meeting the legal requirements.

Farah provincial council member Dadullah Qanai confirmed receiving a letter from the Presidential Palace ordering the said officials to be introduced to the AGO.

Some weeks back, President Ashraf Ghani sacked senior officials of western Herat province and introduced some of them to the AGO.

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