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The Attorney General’s Office said the seven officials detained by police are accused of embezzling at least 1.5 million AFs and $1.2 million USD.
At least three generals and four high ranking officers from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) were detained over charges involving embezzlement, misuse of their authorities and forgery, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said on Tuesday.
This is comes amid mounting pressure on the Kabul government to take action against graft.
According to the AGO, one of the generals arrested is the former chairman of deployment and administrative affairs of the ministry of defense and the case against the suspects have been sent to the Anti-Corruption Criminal Justice Center’s (ACJC) court.
The AGO spokesman Jamshed Rasuli said the arrests were made as a result of investigations from two other officials of the ministry of defense including the former head of communications department of the MoD and a high ranking government official who is already in custody.
Those arrested include three generals, two colonels and two MoD officials.
“Accusations facing these individuals are involving embezzlement, misuse of the authority, forgery and violation of a series of regulations inside the institution,” Rasuli said.
Based on AGO investigations, the seven officials are accused of embezzling at least 1.5 million Afs and some $1.2 million USD.
“These cases of corruption were registered in the past in the ministry of defense. This issue also belongs to the past,” the MoD spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said.
“Our security sector is grappling with corruption. There is a need for a serious campaign against it,” said Khan Zaman Amarkhail, head of Anti-Corruption Network.
This comes at a time that the Anti-Corruption Criminal Justice Center also prepares for the open trial of several officials of the Ministry of Education, Pashtany Bank, Ministry of Transportation and Civil Aviation and six cases against officials of the ministries of defense and interior.
Last year, President Ashraf Ghani announced the establishment of ACJC as part of government’s crackdown against corruption cases involving high ranking officials.
The center includes specialized police, prosecution units and courts which are designed to be independent from political and other pressures in detecting, investigating and prosecuting corruption.
The ACJC so far has processed at least 300 cases of corruption.
