Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

NSC Seeks Report on Kabul Bank Loan Recovery

NSC Seeks Report on  Kabul Bank Loan Recovery

KABUL - The National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday voiced its displeasure over the lack of progress in recovery of Kabul Bank loans, directing the attorney general and central bank chief to submit reports on the issue.

The topic figured prominently at an NSC meeting, chaired by President Hamid Karzai. The participants also discussed the huge sums of money withdrawn from the bank and stashed in offshore accounts, including in the UAE and Britain.

A statement from the Presidential Palace said the AG and the Da Afghanistan Bank governor had been ordered to present their reports to the NSC by Wednesday (June 5).

The government took over part of the bank after it came to the verge of collapse as a result of issuing unauthorized loans. By mid-March, $50 million of its loans were to be recovered through the auction of defaulters’ properties.

On February 27, Da Afghanistan Bank Governor Noorullah Dilawari told reporters in Kabul id=mce_marker75 million loans had already been repaid to the bank.

An amount of $270-300 million belonging to the bank remains unaccounted-for. Apparently, the money has been illegally transferred abroad, but the government is doing its bit to recover it.

Only one country, where the Kabul Bank money is stashed, has promised cooperation with Afghanistan, according to Dilawari. Without naming that country, he linked the 2009 banking crisis to illegal credit of $835 million.

Kabul Bank’s former chairman Sher Khan Farnoud and CEO Khalilullah Ferozi are among the 22 people accused in the big-time fraud case. (Pajhwok)