The head of the Afghan Anti-Corruption Commission said on Wednesday cases involving 3,000 Afghans with fake education degrees have been handed over to the Attorney General’s Office for further investigation.

Abdul Qayyoum Nizami said during a state accountability address that the fake degrees had been issued by a private Indian education institute and that a number of high-ranking government officials were also in possession of these degrees.

He said in total, 16 cases, including the fake degrees cases, have been handed over to the AGO.

According to him, the fake degrees included bachelor’s, master’s and doctorates. He did not however provide further information but said the Anti-Corruption Commission would work with the AGO throughout their investigation.

Nizami, also stated that the commission had investigated 48 cases of corruption in the first three months of this year. He said 16 of these have been handed over to the AGO.

Other cases handed over include those of assets registration.

AGO spokesperson Jamshed Rasouli said investigations into some corruption cases sent to them by the Anti-Corruption Commission have been completed but some cases are still being investigated.

On the asset registration issue, Nizami meanwhile said the Anti-Corruption Commission had vetted 5,200 asset registration submission in the first four months of this year.

He said so far, three cases in relation to asset registration have been handed over to the AGO on the grounds of misleading information having been provided by the high-ranking officials.