The Attorney General's Office (AGO) on Friday said that the banned employees of the Ministry of Finance have not been referred to the AGO so far, and investigations into allegations of corruption have not been launched against them.
 
This comes two days after President Ashraf Ghani listed 68 names from the Ministry of Finance and officers of the customs departments for alleged involvement in corruption, banning them from travel. But critics said the move was not about fighting corruption but just a staffing shakeup serving to further benefit Ghani's agenda.
 
Meanwhile, the Presidential Palace in a notification has said that all employees of the Ministry of Finance can travel only by getting official permission from the Presidential Palace.
 
However,  legal experts have said that only the attorney general is allowed to put a travel ban on someone.
 
“Based on article 39 of the constitution, only the honorable office of the attorney general is authorized to bar someone from travelling abroad,” said Abdul Subhan Misbah, a legal expert in Kabul.
 
 On Thursday, lawmakers in Afghanistan’s parliament, and the head of Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA), criticized the move by Ghani to announce the list of banned employees, saying Ghani move was "political."
 
They said the move by the president was intended to replace those on the list with "other corrupt people" in those bodies that generate money for the country.
 
“The president’s order indicates that there is no systematic plan for reforms and these miscalculated actions reveal the overall fragile situation of the reforms,” said Ezatullah Adeeb, a member of Integrity Watch Afghanistan.
 
“It's premature to trust. Because we have seen the political exploitation of corruption in the cases related to the Kabul Bank, the case related to the smart city project, the political treatment of Mr. Wahidi and tolerance towards Mr. Qayoumi the former minister of finance,” said MP Neelofar Ibrahimi.
 
“If there are cases within the Ministry of Finance related to the current situation, they should first make the former ministers, accountable,” said Ahmad Saeedi, a political analyst in Kabul.
 
Meanwhile, a new United Nations report released on Thursday said that the sustained and effective efforts in fighting corruption in Afghanistan remain critical for the country’s future.
 
“Anti-corruption efforts and integrity reforms must be key priorities for Afghanistan’s leadership, especially so given the country’s pressing challenges and opportunities around peace and development,” said Deborah Lyons, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.
 
The report recommends that the government "develop a realistic long-term strategy that builds on past achievements; that the anti-corruption commission is swiftly established; that the law-enforcement capacity dedicated to corruption investigations and related arrests be boosted; that oversight and management of public resources be strengthened; and that justice sector reforms be prioritized by fostering judicial independence."
 
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has also called on the Afghan government to fight corruption.
 
“Corruption is a problem in Afghanistan. That’s also clearly stated by the political leadership in Afghanistan, and actually, part of NATO’s presence in Afghanistan is to support efforts is to help to fight corruption, because corruption is like a disease,” said Stoltenberg.
 
“It really, really undermines the strength of any society. And therefore, also, NATO, when we and NATO Allies, when they provide support to the security forces, or NATO Allies also provide different types of development aid, of course they focus extremely much on how can we make sure that the NATO support is not, what should I say, destroyed by corruption, but it actually gets to where it’s meant to go. Corruption is a problem. Corruption has to be fought with strength and conviction and with joint efforts and therefore that’s an issue which we, which NATO has raised and is addressing in our dialogue and cooperation with Afghanistan,” said Stoltenberg.
 
On June 13 the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) said that two important reports on corruption and irregularities of the Ministry of Finance and in the National Procurement Authority (NPA) have still not been released, although they have been anticipated for over the past five months.
 
According to the MEC, several requests have been sent to the Committee on Rule of Law and the Presidential Palace to make the reports available for discussion, but they have not been produced.
 
The anti-corruption monitoring institution has said that the reason that the government is delaying the release and assessment of the reports is that the government does not have a strong will to fight corruption.