Ex-minister’s relatives awarded jail sentence over graft

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Supreme Court has sentenced three individuals with links to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to imprisonment and fines on charges of corruption.

Ahmad Fahim Qawim, spokesman for the apex court, told Pajhwok Afghan News Ahmad Shokran Usmani and Fraidoon Sultani were sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison each.

He said the special court against heinous crimes fined two others. Each was one was ordered to pay the amount they had received in bribe.

Qawim said another individual named Hamid Hamidi who was not directly involved in the corruption had been sentenced to two and half years in prison and Ahmad Kawa another person was acquitted.

About five months back, intelligence agents and prosecutors had detained four individuals, including the brother of former public health minister Ahmad Jawad Usmani, on bribery charges.

A credible source had then said the quartet had sought bribes from provincial health directors. As a result, National Directorate of Security (NDS) and AGO personnel nabbed them.

The detainees are Usmani’s brother Ahmad Shukran Usmani, who had no official position in the ministry, his cousins Kawa Sarmastzada and Hamid Hameedi Faramarz, as well as Faridoon Sultani, a senior advisor to the ministry.

Another source in MoPH said voice messages, in which Faridoon Sultani was seeking bribes, had been obtained by AGO. This led to the arrests.

President Ashraf Ghani fired Usmani as minister after the arrest of the four individuals.

sa/mud

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