Kabul Bank Heads Sentenced for Corruption
March 05, 2013
by VOA News
An Afghan judge has sentenced the two former heads of what was once Afghanistan's largest bank to five years in prison for involvement in the massive fraud scandal that brought the bank down in 2010.
Judge Shamsul Rahman Shams on Tuesday sentenced former Kabul Bank chairman Sherkhan Farnood and the bank's former chief executive officer, Khalilullah Ferozi. The two men are also required to pay back the money stolen - about $531 million by Ferozi and $279 million by Farnood.
Some 20 other defendants were also convicted in Tuesday's ruling. They have the right to appeal.
These are the first convictions for the Kabul Bank collapse, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars disappear in fraudulent loans. The bank was bailed out by the government and relaunched as New Kabul Bank.
The former governor of Afghanistan's national bank, Abdul Qadir Fetrat, received 30 months in jail for his alleged involvement in the Kabul Bank fraud.
Speaking to Radio Ashna, Fetrat, who absconded to the United States, called the verdict "cruel and unfair." He accused Afghan President Hamid Karzai of using the special tribunal adjudicating the Kabul Bank fraud as an instrument to protect those he called the "real culprits."
The Karzai administration has long faced allegations of massive corruption. But Tuesday's proceedings were expected to be seen as a measure of the government's commitment to fighting corruption, something international aid donors are demanding as international combat forces prepare to pull out in 2014.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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