SIGAR claims IEA interfering in NGOs work, govt denies

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has said Afghanistan’s central bank lacks independence from the caretaker government and adequate safeguards against money laundering and terrorism financing.

In its quarterly report, the US watchdog told the US Congress that the caretaker government’s interference with NGOs work had escalated, leading to a steady decline in humanitarian access in 2023, with a 32% increase in incidents between January and May 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.

It says most recent publicly available date from BHA shows there were a total of 110 access incidents related to IEA interference in April 2023 alone.

But the Islamic Emirate strongly rejected it interfered with humanitarian assistance.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, said: “We strongly reject this claim, no interference is taking place from IEA in the work of NGOs and organizations; especially in their financial areas. All organizations are working according to their procedures.”

“Just in case someone complains about lack of transparency in distribution or about security concerns, the Islamic Emirate cooperates with the institutions, but does not interfere in their affairs, and we reject any reports that have been published,” Mujahid added.

Ahmad Jawad Sadad, Director of Monetary Policy of the Central Bank, rejected the SIGAR report during the “Accountability to the Nation program” at the Government Media Information Center on Wednesday.

Responding to a query, Sadad said DAB was an independent institution and made all its decisions independently and had professional staff.

He said DAB was strongly committed to fighting money laundering and there was no problem in the bank’s management.

In August, 2021, after the fall of the previous government, the US froze more than nine billion US dollars assets of Afghanistan.

According to reports, $7 billion of the frozen assets are in the US and the rest in European countries.

Last year, the US announced the transfer of $3.5 billion in Afghan foreign reserves to a new Swiss-based trust fund that would be shielded from the caretaker government.

An official of the US Treasury department told Reuters last month that Washington will not support the transfer of funds to the central bank of Afghanistan until the bank shows it is not susceptible to ‘political influence and manipulation’ .

The caretaker government of Afghanistan and many countries have asked the US to unblock the assets of the Afghanistan central bank.

sa/ma