KABUL - The Afghan Supreme Audit Office, charged with scrutinizing the finances of government ministries and institutions, has reported that 20 government offices have failed to spend 50 percent of their budget allocated for 2013.

The Audit Office said some failed to even utilize up to 35 percent of their funds this year.

Many of these ministries and institutions, which the auditors declined to name, stand accused of wastage, misappropriation and malfeasance in handling public funds.

Reportedly, the Audit Office has filed over 270 cases with the Attorney General against an assortment of ministries and other government institutions in light of their financials.

"A number of these files have been addressed at the Attorney General's Office but there are still some under investigation," said Sayed Muhammad Mahdi Hussaini, Technical Deputy of the Audit Office.

Corruption is a widespread and widely documented problem in Afghanistan, on the local and national level. Transparency International ranked the Afghan judiciary as the most corrupt in the world this year.

However, the failure to even put public funds to use, whether for good or bad purposes, is another issue entirely.

In the face of desperate needs for better services, provisions and facilities throughout the country, the fact that many of these government offices do not max-out their budgets seems somewhat puzzling. But whether it is a result of incompetence or something more nefarious is unknown.

Idle development budgets are nothing new in Kabul. Last year, 11 Ministers were summoned by the Lower House to explain why they had failed to utilize the funds at their disposal. (Tolo news)