Afghan officials will decide whether to push forward with prosecutions or to let those responsible for the fraud walk free in return for help in securing the rest of the cash, according to western officials.
The attorney-general’s office in Kabul says it has so far completed
investigations into 19 individuals, but only nine have been charged.
In private, western officials are sceptical about the willingness of the
Afghan government to prosecute shareholders and executives because of
their political connections.
Officials say the bank’s former chairman, Sherkhan Farnood, a word-class
poker player, could dish the dirt on senior government officials if he
were ever taken to court. Farnood and his deputy, Khalilullah Frozi,
were arrested in July. Both men were released on the condition that they
help the government recover the missing funds.
At the meeting of Afghan officials and donor countries, a Kroll official
said the men were “being very co-operative in assisting with the
collection of the bad loans”.
The International Monetary Fund last month renewed its credit programme
to Afghanistan, which it had suspended 13 months earlier because of the
Kabul Bank crisis and the lack of oversight of Afghanistan’s banking
system. Britain and other donors had also withheld aid, which is used to
pay the salaries of teachers, health workers and government employees. Full details documented here.
