Official steals items worth tens of thousands of dollars

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): The acting director of investigation at the Appellant Attorney General Office in southern Kandahar province has left his job, taking away prisoners’ cash, gold and a vehicle worth tens of thousands of dollars.

At least $50,000 cash, gold worth 180,000 afghanis, a car worth $5,000 and other items belonging to prisoners have been stolen and taken away by the official, indicate Pajhwok Afghan News findings.

The real matter:

Allah Noor, who previously worked as an acting official at the department, was appointed as director of investigation without any guarantee or justification.

Noor was appointed by the head of the Kandahar Appellant Attorney Prosecutor Office, Isa Khan Ibrahimkhel, without any good reason.

The appointment came after the Attorney General Office issued a letter ordering a reshuffle of administrative and professional staff through the human resource department.

Sources in the Kandahar Appellant Attorney General Office claimed the incident of corruption and theft stemmed from the illegal reshuffle.

Director Isa Khan Ibrahimkhel, without any cogent reason, appointed Abdul Nafee, the ex-director of investigation, as head of administrative and finance department, insiders alleged.

Ibrahimkhel also appointed Allah Noor, who previously served as executive head of the special prosecutor for children, as director of the investigation department.

Noor not only misused his position, but also quit his job on his own and took away prisoners’ belongings, sources disclosed.

Several senior officials of the Kandahar Appellant Attorney General Office, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok in background interviews about the illegal activities, financial corruption and thefts in the office.

One official, who declined to be named, said the AGO had instructed the Kandahar Appellant Attorney General Office through a letter (01) No. 1917/1402 on July 8, 2019 that professional employees must be reshuffled via the human resource department.

He added Ibrahimkhel replaced the director of investigation with another person as acting head of the department concerned.

After holding this position for 16 months, Noor quit the job on November 2, 2020 without any notice. Worse still, he also stole prisoners’ cash, gold and vehicle.

The source said they had sent a proposal (03) to Zabihullah Yousufi, the director general of investigation at the AGO (in Kabul), for the appointment of a three-member delegation to investigate the matter.

The official said the proposal had been submitted to the AGO for legal action, on the basis of which a three-member delegation was appointed to probe the issue.

The investigation revealed Noor sealed the boxes and took away all the items. About four months later, the newly-appointed director of investigation, Ahmad Zafar Durrani, issued a second proposal (04) No. 63 in the solar year 1400.

The proposal reads the investigation found that Noor had stolen most of the items belonging to prisoners. Now the inmates have demanded their items, but they are facing problems.

The proposal said for years, confiscated and non-confiscated vehicles, weapons and other items have been in the custody of a body, which could not properly protect them.

The director was asked to provide legal and principled guidance on how to deal with the issue.

Instead of taking timely action, the director of the prosecutor office issued a warrant (05) for the arrest of the accused about four month after the first proposal floated on April 15.

Based on the warrant, the general directorate of criminal investigation sent a letter No (06) 292/221 to the Kandahar police headquarters to arrest Noor.

But according to Appellant Prosecutor Office, Noor has not yet been arrested so far.

Although the documents do not specify how many of the detainees’ items were stolen by Noor, another senior official told Pajhwok: “The investigation director had stolen $50,000 in cash, gold worth 180,000 afghanis, a car worth $5,000 and other items.”

Another proof of the director’s involvement in corruption is that he took action about four months after the first proposal and sent a letter to the police headquarters for Noor’s arrest. The accused was thus afforded enough time to escape.

Abdul Nafee, having completed his term of service, has requested the director to decide his fate. However, his fate remains in the balance.

In addition to the detainees’ cash and other belongings, their vehicles were also not safe as the director’s bodyguards, classmates and others freely used them. Some of them are said to be missing.

One source also shared with Pajhwok a number of other documents (08) alleging the director’s domestic worker had received a lot of money in expenses without due process.

However, all information related to this and other illegal activities of Ibrahimkhel has been shared with the Centre in a letter (09) but no action has been taken in this regard so far.

Reaction from AGO & Ibrahimkhel:

Ibrahimkhel denied the allegations leveled against him. He said the changes and appointments were planned by the AGO, but corrupt circles were creating problems for him.

He told Pajhwok: “As director of the Kandahar Appellant Prosecutor Office, I reserve the right to reshuffle the fourth, fifth and sixth grade posts. Noor was a formal employee and was appointed by the administrative reforms office to the fifth grade position.”

Ibrahimkhel insisted the former investigation director had been deputed to the NDS Prosecutor Office by the centre. Later on, he appointed Noor to the post.

Asked why he had not taken action on the theft four months after Noor’s escape, he replied an employee had a legal right to 20-day leave.  During this period, they could do nothing.

However, after that period, he shared the issue with the police headquarters via various letters and asked them to detain Noor.

The central government was aware of the issue, he said, adding a three-member team has been assigned to probe the matter. The outcome would be shared with the central government.

He denied Noor had taken away $50,000 in cash or a vehicle. The matter was under investigation and had not been finalised yet, he said.

Jamshid Rassouli, spokesman to AGO, confirmed an employee of the Kandahar Appellant Attorney General Office had quit his position willfully, taking away equipment and supplies. The issue has been shared with the AGO by the Kandahar prosecutor office.

With the matter currently being investigated, Rassouli said security organs had been directed to arrest Noor.

Kandahar police spokesman Jamal Nasir Barakzai said the appellant prosecutor office had shared information about Noor through a letter with them.

He added that Noor had escaped but police had launched efforts for his arrest.

This report has been produced by Pajhwok and financially supported by UNDP and Denmark.

sa/mud

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