Govt fails to prosecute Kabul Bank’s felons

KABUL (Pajhwok): The findings by the Integrity Watch indicated that it had been more than four months since the Kabul Bank case was reopened by the new government but it failed in the prosecution of Kabul Bank’s felons and the recovery of embezzled asset.

In a statement, the Integrity Watch said the government has recovered $228 out of $977 million from Kabul Bank’s debtors, out of which $179.1 million is in cash and the remaining $48.9 million worth assets that has been sold to the government. But the amount has not been paid by the relevant institutions to the government treasury yet.

Sayed Ikram Afzali, Executive Director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan said: “Kabul Bank corruption has badly affected the state, economy, development, and democracy in Afghanistan as well as citizens and international community trust. If the government does not prosecute, expose and penalise the accused felons of Kabul Bank case, people trust will be lost on the new government.”

Meanwhile, the statement said that according to a promissory note between Ministry of Finance, and Da Afghanistan Bank, the Ministry of Finance has to bailout an amount of about 41.3 billion afghanis to Da Afghanistan Bank from national treasury within 8 years.

It is worth mentioning that, the asset recoveries process, dealing with Kabul Bank’s shareholders and the process of selling of assets to the government department has not been transparent, it said, adding that access to accurate information in this regard has also been a challenge.

The current government has also failed to summon the runaway felons of Kabul Bank by diplomatic relations for prosecution. Despite, the government has decreased the interest for the shareholders; they have not paid their debts to the government yet, it added.

Emphasizing on fulfilling Tokyo Commitment, Integrity Watch considered the establishment of a standard banking system, and implementation of Money Laundering Law through a transparent and accountable manner necessary for restoring public trust on the new government.

“…the government may not be able to totally eradicate the roots of corruption and replace it with transparency immediately, but turning the commitments into action against big corruption issues such as Kabul Bank embezzlement case, can increase the reputation and trust of the new government,” he added.

pr/rm