A fuel quality testing project for the country’s ports is facing corruption charges by lawmakers who say the Indian company that has the contact lacks the required capacity for the task.
TSRC Corporation, the lawmakers said, was referred to the Attorney General’s Office by President Ghani because of a lack of capacity and for forgery.
The MPs said that the contract for fuel quality testing in the country’s ports was awarded to this company by the Afghanistan National Standards Authority, opening the way for the “embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars” to be poured into the government’s treasury, according to MPs.
“The TSRC company actually does not exist,” claimed Feda Mohammad Ulfat, an MP from Kabul. “A group of thieves have come together and want to loot the national treasury.”
“This company is a consultative firm. It is not a laboratory. This company does not have experience in (quality) testing,” said Ustad Haneef, an MP.
Other MPs called the move an act against the national interests of the country.
“The president himself referred the company to the Attorney General’s Office… Why was the company given the contract?” asked Shinkai Karokhil, an MP.
The Afghanistan National Standards Authority said that President Ghani in a decree last year referred the TSRC Corporation to the Attorney General’s Office, but, 14 days later, the national procurement commission awarded the fuel quality testing contract to the company; therefore, the Afghanistan National Standards Authority was responsible for implementing the decision of the procurement commission.
TSRC company’s employees in Kabul said their work is based on the government’s decisions and are legal.
“A big number of mafia people are involved in this project, particularly those investors who want to import low quality fuel,” said Mohammad Jamal Shinwari, head of the TSRC company in Afghanistan.
Wolesi Jirga Speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani in the Wednesday session called on the national economy committee of the parliament to assess the issue.