Covid-19 funds: 116 graft-tainted officials face AGO

KABUL (Pajhwok):The office of Ombudsperson on Monday said Government officials/employees accused of embezzling Covid19 funds in eight provinces have been referred to the Attorney General Office.

Firoz Bashari, spokesman of the office  told Pajhwok Afghan News that the graft-tainted officials belonged to Herat, Ghor, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak, Badakhshan, Nuristan and Samangan provinces.

He said the bureau has investigated various corruption and embezzlement cases in Covid19 funds in the mentioned provinces.

He added 116 government officials involved in these cases had been referred to AGO along with nearly 1,000 pages of documents as evidence for further investigation.

“These cases are investigated very carefully, based on professionalism and justice”, Bashari added, saying the officials accused of corruption included governors, directors and others.

“NBI takes strict actions against corruption and no corrupt person can escape”, he said, asking people to share any documents about corruption with the bureau.

Bashari said corruption in the bread distribution program in Kabul was also under investigation and some progress had also been made.

He added the Herat governor and provincial council members were not referred by them to AGO, but he did not provide further details on the regard.

Mds/ma