KABUL - The recent move of government to include bankrupt debtors of Kabul Bank to a vast government project has questioned the independence of Afghanistan's Judicial Branch, said the legal experts on Thursday.

Calling the government's decision against all laws of Afghanistan, the lawyers stated that no government body including the Council of Ministers has the authority to interfere into judicial decisions.

The government launched the 'Smart City Township' Project on Wednesday in which Khalilullah Ferozi, one of the biggest convicts in Kabul Bank scandal, shares a big part in the project worth $900 million USD.

The government officials said the aim of the program was to help the debtors of Kabul Bank stand on their feet to be able to repay their obligation instead of being behind the prison bars.

The move has however sparked mounting criticism of the government, which in first place promised to recover the stolen money of corruption-hit Kabul Bank.

"This is contrary to all legal norms," a legal expert Tahir Hashemi said. "Judicial independence is undermined."

The project was launched in a special ceremony attended by President Ashraf Ghani's legal adviser Abdul Ali Mohammadi, Ghnai's special representative for reform and good governance, Ahmad Zia Massoud and other government officials.

But the Minister of Urban Development Sayed Sadat Mansour Naderi, who is implementing the project, said on Thursday that Ferozi's activities will be closely monitored.

He said no deal had taken place over the program.

"We are monitoring the project and there is no reason to be worried about," Naderi said.

This comes after Ghani promised during his inaugural last year that he will finalize the Kabul Bank case and recover the stolen money.

But the analysts warned the recent move to make criminals partner to government projects will result in the failure of government in its fight against corruption.

"This is one of the biggest mistakes of the National Unity Government," said Rashid Behroz, a member of an anti-corruption body. "This will badly hit the government's relative credibility."

Meanwhile, Ghani's deputy spokesman, Sayed Zafar Hashemi, said the government is committed to recovering the embezzled money of the crisis-hit bank.

Kabul Bank, once the country's largest financial institution, was badly shaken and collapsed in 2010 in one of the largest banking schemes in the country's history.

The former chairman of Kabul Bank, Sherkhan Farnood, and CEO Ferozi were sacked from their positions and arrested over the embezzlement of more than $900 million USD in cash and assets.

Ferozi and Farnood were sentenced each to 15 years in jail in a court verdict last November after they were found guilty in the collapse of Kabul Bank, now run by the government. (Tolonews)