Karzai orders for return of bank's absconding ex-chief
01 November, 2012
KABUL: President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General Office to summon Abdul Qadir Fitrat, former governor of Da Afghanistan Bank, alleged involved in the embezzlement of Kabul Bank and later fled to the United States. Karzai issued the order to his officials during a meeting held at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday to clean up the commercial bank's financial mess, said a statement. The loan clearance delegation presented their report at the meeting that was chaired by Karzai himself. According to the report, Kabul Bank managed to collect $138 million from debtors, properties worth $185 million that are in the country and abroad were confiscated from defaulters and borrowers agreed to return $218 million. However, loans worth a staggering $529 million are yet to be accounted for. At the meeting, the clearance delegation was tasked to sell the confiscated properties and return the money to the government within a month, said the statement. The Finance Ministry was appointed to discuss with a UK tax firm, Crawl that was involved in auditing Kabul Bank, to identify money channeled via the bank to other foreign financial institutions and report to the Afghan government. Meanwhile, the foreign ministry and the attorney's office were tasked to negotiate with American authorities to repatriate Fitrat to Afghanistan. Fitrat sent his resignation from the US while he was on an official trip to Virginia state on 27th June, 2011, claiming his life was under threat but did not reveal any names. Kabul Bank plunged into deep financial crisis in 2010 after a major fraud amounting to whopping $850 million. End.
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