Tweet
Prison sentences in Kabul Bank investigation
Two former heads of Afghanistan's largest savings and loan bank given five-year sentences for fraud and embezzlement.
Last Modified: 05 Mar 2013 08:59
Email
Print
Share
Feedback
The judge said the former chairman and chief executive must pay back the money gained from the corruption [AP]
Two of the former heads of Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's first private bank, have been given five-year prison sentences by a tribunal investigating charges of fraud and embezzlement.
Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from the Afghan capital, said there was anger and disbelief in the courtroom as the verdict against Sher Khan Farnoud, the bank's founder and chairman, and Khalilullah Ferozi, chief executive of the bank, was announced on Tuesday.
Turton said some people in the courtroom felt there was a mishandling of the investigation into the multi-million-dollar fraud that caused the collapse of the Kabul Bank in 2010.
From the perspective of one neighbourhood in Herat Shamsul Rahman Shams, the judge, said that Farnoud and Ferozi must pay back the money, more than $700m, they gained from the corruption described as a "Ponzi scheme" by international investigators.
Along with the two top executives, a total of 16 people were charged in Tuesday's verdict.
Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, former governor of the central bank, was also sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for mishandling the initial fraud investigation. Fitrat, who had told Al Jazeera in June 2011 that the investigation put his life in danger, was tried in absentia since he fled to the United States.
A number of other well-connected people allegedly implicated in the scandal as shareholders, including, the brothers of Hamid Karzai and Marshal Fahim, Afghanistan's president and first vice president, respectively, were not charged by the special court.
Mahmoud Karzai agreed to pay back the funds he received in no interest loans from the bank, when the Afghan president announced last year that anyone who repaid the money they ook from the institution would not face trial.
The verdict comes after three years of of investigations detailed how massive off-book loans, lavish purchases and 114 rubber stamps used for fake companies helped contribute to the embezzlement of more than $900m from the bank, $747m of which has yet to be recovered.
Two former heads of Afghanistan's largest savings and loan bank given five-year sentences for fraud and embezzlement.
Last Modified: 05 Mar 2013 08:59
inShare1
Share
Feedback
The judge said the former chairman and chief executive must pay back the money gained from the corruption [AP]Two of the former heads of Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's first private bank, have been given five-year prison sentences by a tribunal investigating charges of fraud and embezzlement.
Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from the Afghan capital, said there was anger and disbelief in the courtroom as the verdict against Sher Khan Farnoud, the bank's founder and chairman, and Khalilullah Ferozi, chief executive of the bank, was announced on Tuesday.
Turton said some people in the courtroom felt there was a mishandling of the investigation into the multi-million-dollar fraud that caused the collapse of the Kabul Bank in 2010.
From the perspective of one neighbourhood in Herat Shamsul Rahman Shams, the judge, said that Farnoud and Ferozi must pay back the money, more than $700m, they gained from the corruption described as a "Ponzi scheme" by international investigators.Along with the two top executives, a total of 16 people were charged in Tuesday's verdict.
Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, former governor of the central bank, was also sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for mishandling the initial fraud investigation. Fitrat, who had told Al Jazeera in June 2011 that the investigation put his life in danger, was tried in absentia since he fled to the United States.
A number of other well-connected people allegedly implicated in the scandal as shareholders, including, the brothers of Hamid Karzai and Marshal Fahim, Afghanistan's president and first vice president, respectively, were not charged by the special court.
Mahmoud Karzai agreed to pay back the funds he received in no interest loans from the bank, when the Afghan president announced last year that anyone who repaid the money they ook from the institution would not face trial.
The verdict comes after three years of of investigations detailed how massive off-book loans, lavish purchases and 114 rubber stamps used for fake companies helped contribute to the embezzlement of more than $900m from the bank, $747m of which has yet to be recovered.