KABUL Commission for International Affairs claimed on Tuesday.
The Commission kicked off its investigation into the alleged corruption in the embassy wall construction after Pajhwok Afghan News published a detailed report in this regard.
The Meshrano Jirga has demanded further inspection of the corruption incident and demanded people involved to be referred to judicial organs.
According to Pajhwok Afghan News report, Afghanistan’s embassy in the United States has reconstructed its boundary wall measuring 70 meters at a cost of around $1,825,839 while rejecting an economical offer of $88,000 for reconstruction of the same wall.
For building the 70-meter wall, KADCON Corporation has been given $1,586,000, VIKA Company received $12,750 for survey, ECS received $12,250 for soil test, KCE received $64,839 for technical advices and DLA Piper received $150 for making contracts and legal consultation.
Pajhwok report on unearthing corruption was hailed nation-wide and by both houses of the parliament. The Wolesi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga decided to investigate the issue and for this purpose a joint committee summoned Pajhwok Afghan News head to share available documents and Pajhwok offered full cooperation by sharing vital documents.
Haseebullah Kalimzai, head of the Mesharano Jirga Commission for International Affairs, traveled to the US as part of investigation into alleged corruption report and upon his return, he shared his finding in the general session of Mesharano Jirga.
He said officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were unaware about corruption in the wall construction and said that the ministry was aware about reports in the media.
Kalimzai said documents provided by Pajhwok Afghan News showed that money spent on the wall construction had been transferred to the embassy account by cheque and then landed in Rahmani’s account. The contract of the wall construction with CADCON Company has Rahmani’s signature.
For more clarity and further investigation, Kalimzai said he traveled to the US and held separate meetings with concerned individuals and personally with the Afghan ambassador in Washington.
He said procurement related documents handed over to him regarding construction of the wall were not clear to show this project was carried out under Afghanistan procurement related laws and procedures on the basis of US procurement laws and procedures.
He said in fact, now procurement law was applied in the embassy wall’s construction project.
The Commission report says: “There are no documents available that could force the contactor to complete the project in due time with quality construction.”
The report adds no conditions, project price and other necessary items were included in the bidding letters on the basis of which the company got the project.
According to the Commission report, bidding terms and conditions of the contract have not been mentioned. Laws on the basis of which the contract is offered have not been mentioned and all procurement rules and regulations in the project have been violated.
In the other part of this report, it is stated that in order to calculate and stabilize the workload, the wall design had to be completed after sampling and stabilization of the soil and before bidding, or at least technical specifications for the project and the price should have been offered to companies for bidding purpose based on which the total value of the project is estimated.
Kalimzai said Afghanistan embassy in Washington and concerned officials of MoFA refrained from sharing Financial Propose offered by the contracting company with the investigative Commission.
“On the basis of our investigation, $925, 292.95 were embezzled only in construction of the wall and there were clear signs of corruption in other contracts related to the project that needed more investigation.”
Kalimzai said documents shared with them by the embassy showed that Mrs. Gloria, the eastern neighbour of the embassy, rejected the proposal offered by JG Company while Mrs. Gloria in her e-mail dated 23, Aug, 2019 stated that she had no role in contract handover process.
“According to Pajhwok Afghan News documents, the introduction of Mr. Sargan’s son-in-law was decided on verbal understanding between Ambassador Rahmani and Dr. Sargand. Documents show Mr. Sargand directly used his official authority in his son in-law case while there was nothing regarding the appointment of Mir Haris Ansari in the embassy database,” he said.
“Keeping in view, the economic situation of Afghanistan and contemporary rules and regulations, a blatant administrative corruption took place in the construction and rehabilitation of boundary wall of Afghanistan’s embassy in Washington DC and this negligence led to the embezzlement of a small amount of money as well,” the Commission learned.
According to the Commission report, over 60 percent fund of the project had been embezzled while around 40 percent spent in the wall’s construction.
The International Affairs Commission of the Mesharano Jirga accused Dr. Shah Mohammad Sargand, former advisor to the president, Yama Nizam former MoF advisor, Mir Haris Ansari, Sargand’s son-in-law and in charge of the project and Ambassador Roya Rahmani of embezzling funds of the project and demanded that these people should be investigated.
Kalimzai asked the Attorney General Office (AGO) to strictly investigate this case. He said the DLA PIPER Company hired by the MoF against $150,000 for legal advice for this project had proposed high rates to carry out this project in violation of Afghanistan’s laws and contrary to the national interest.
He asked the AGO to conduct investigation into other small contracts related to the project and inquire about the Income Tax Department that if DLA PIPER paid its taxes or not.
He told members of the house: “I take responsibility for every work I delivered, everything is based on documents and a 400-page report is handed over to the administrative panel of the house.”
Nh/ma
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