200 corruption cases tackled by AGO in past two months

The Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday during a state accountability program briefing that 200 corruption cases, mostly involving government officials and government employees, have been investigated in the past two months.

“In the past two solar months the Attorney General has handed over 224 corruption cases to the High Court and 500 people have been charged,” said Jamshid Rasouly, spokesman for the AGO.

“The defendants include high-ranking officials such as deputies, governors, heads of departments, members of the provincial council and parliament, who have been charged with embezzlement, bribery, abuse of authority, money laundering, forgery of documents, also among these, there are 76 military cases and 178 defendants are included,” Rasouly added.

Rasouly said more than 1,700 corruption cases have been investigated this (solar) year. He said government officials, a number of members of the National Assembly and Provincial Councils are among those charged.

“In one year, the tireless efforts of the Attorney General’s Office to establish a modern anti-corruption mechanism have led to far-reaching changes. Today, the results of this national struggle in 1399 solar year are 1,791 cases, which shows that this promise has been increasingly fulfilled,” Rasouly said.

But Integrity Watch Afghanistan says that there has been no reforms at the Attorney General’s Office in the fight against corruption.

This comes after President Ashraf Ghani said about a month ago the leadership of the Attorney General’s Office needed to ramp up efforts to fight corruption and questioned the body’s performance.

A number of MPs in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) and civil society members have claimed the Attorney General’s Office and the Afghan judiciary deal with cases of corruption politically.

In addition to this, it has been three months since the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission and according to Afghan oversight bodies and civil society, the commission has so far provided no results in the fight against corruption.