President orders probe into Paktia revenue theft

GARDEZ (Pajhwok): Following a Pajhwok report, President Ashraf Ghani has ordered serious investigation into embezzlement of millions of afghanis from the annual revenue of south-eastern Paktia province.

On November 10, a report published Pajhwok Afghan News says that 183 million afghanis revenue was embezzled annually instead of going to the government treasures.

The Ministry of Finance in an inquiry letter has asked Paktia’s local administration for complete explanation and submitting “serious report” about the corruption.

The local administration says it is committed to investigating the embezzlement case and is taking serious steps following directions from the president.

Abdul RahmanMangal, the governor’s spokesman, told Pajhwok: “After the report published by Pajhwok, we have received an order from the Presidential Palace asking for explanations, the department concerned is working fast in order to clear the issue.”

Pajhwok also received a copy of the presidential order about probing the embezzlement case in Paktia.

The letter from President Ghani says that a Pajhwok report shows revenue from 6,500 shops and markets is embezzled in Paktia.

The letter asks the departments concerned to prepare their report about the issue within 24 hours.

On the other hand, residents of Paktia commended Pajhwok’s report.

Jamal, resident of Gardez, praised Pajhwok’s report, saying the level of corruption might be higher than cited by the news agency.

Abdul Malik Zazai, chief of the provincial council, said: “There are a lot of issues, there will be an outcome if all work together. We commend reports by Pajhwok about reforms and assure that we will pursue such issues as representatives of the people.”

However, people are complaining about corruption in other revenue departments of the country as well and demand prevention of the menace.

sa/ma

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