Skip to main content
Latest news
Thumbnail

Watchdog Seeks Assessment of Ex-Officials Corruption Cases

Integrity Watch Afghanistan, a Kabul-based monitoring organization, sees a lack of will in relevant government institutions to assess corruption cases involving former officials and says it has created a type of impunity for such authorities.

The watchdog says it also sees a lack of freedom within judicial institutions to assess corruption cases.

One such case belongs to former urban development and land minister, Mohammad Jawad Paikar, who is accused of corruption, according to information by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO).

Findings on his case, according to the Attorney General’s Office, have been sent to the Administrative Office the President.

According to information by the Attorney General’s Office, Paikar is accused of misuse of his authority and purchase of assets in Turkey using an unknown financial source.

Paikar was dismissed from his post last year following these allegations against him.

“The political leadership within the Afghan government has no will to address the major corruption cases. The legal and judicial institutions are also not acting in accordance with the law because of their weakness,” said Naser Taimoori, a researcher at Integrity Watch Afghanistan.

“People have the right to know about how much money Mr. Paikar owned and what is his financial status right now,” said Ainuddin Bahaduri, the head of the Access to Information Commission.

This comes days after John Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) strongly criticized a move by the Afghan government to appoint one of the key masterminds behind the collapse of the old Kabul Bank to take charge of a government agency.

SIGAR also criticized the Afghan government for not taking practical action on 6,500 cases of corruption that have not been assessed.

“We hope we will see that the arrest, trial and imprisonment of powerful individuals engaging in corruption occurs on a regular basis,” Sopko said.

“Many people in the government who were involved in major cases of corruption are currently overseas and some of them have appeared in the team of President Ashraf Ghani,” said Tawfiq Wahdat, an MP.

Watchdog Seeks Assessment of Ex-Officials Corruption Cases

A Kabul-based watchdog says it sees a lack of freedom within judicial institutions to assess corruption cases.

Thumbnail

Integrity Watch Afghanistan, a Kabul-based monitoring organization, sees a lack of will in relevant government institutions to assess corruption cases involving former officials and says it has created a type of impunity for such authorities.

The watchdog says it also sees a lack of freedom within judicial institutions to assess corruption cases.

One such case belongs to former urban development and land minister, Mohammad Jawad Paikar, who is accused of corruption, according to information by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO).

Findings on his case, according to the Attorney General’s Office, have been sent to the Administrative Office the President.

According to information by the Attorney General’s Office, Paikar is accused of misuse of his authority and purchase of assets in Turkey using an unknown financial source.

Paikar was dismissed from his post last year following these allegations against him.

“The political leadership within the Afghan government has no will to address the major corruption cases. The legal and judicial institutions are also not acting in accordance with the law because of their weakness,” said Naser Taimoori, a researcher at Integrity Watch Afghanistan.

“People have the right to know about how much money Mr. Paikar owned and what is his financial status right now,” said Ainuddin Bahaduri, the head of the Access to Information Commission.

This comes days after John Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) strongly criticized a move by the Afghan government to appoint one of the key masterminds behind the collapse of the old Kabul Bank to take charge of a government agency.

SIGAR also criticized the Afghan government for not taking practical action on 6,500 cases of corruption that have not been assessed.

“We hope we will see that the arrest, trial and imprisonment of powerful individuals engaging in corruption occurs on a regular basis,” Sopko said.

“Many people in the government who were involved in major cases of corruption are currently overseas and some of them have appeared in the team of President Ashraf Ghani,” said Tawfiq Wahdat, an MP.

Share this post

Comment this post