Resolving the Kabul Bank scandal was one of the major promises pledged by the National Unity Government (NUG) when it was formed last year. However, despite remarkable progresses in dealing with the case, substantial challenges are remaining in place for recovering the hundreds of millions of dollars embezzled from the bank. Abdul Ali Mohammadi, legal advisor to the President, said on Sunday that $437 million of the total $987million stolen from Kabul Bank had been recovered, but $578mn remained unpaid. According to Mohammadi, 24 individuals involved with the scandal have cleared their debts with the bank while 21 others have pledged to pay their debts to the bank. He added that the government has developed a persuasive procedure for collecting the money, saying that properties of those who have failed to commit for clearing their debts will be sold for clearing their debts with Kabul Bank.

The status of resolving the bank’s case is indicating that it will remain a major test for the National Unity Government (NUG) in its efforts to fight the chronic and pervasive corruption in Afghanistan. So far, the government has been lagging in fulfilling its pledge to quickly resolve the bank’s scandal. However, since formation of the NUG, the efforts to resolve the Kabul Bank’s case has been on the right path and the government remains committed to addressing the bank’s case. The Kabul Bank financial scandal emerged in 2010 when it became public knowledge that about $1 billion was embezzled by bank executives, stakeholders and relatives of high-ranking government officials. The financial scandal was viewed as the biggest banking financial scandal of the world in the current century given Afghanistan’s size of economy. It pushed Afghanistan’s banking system on verge of a collapse and forced the government to seize the bank and bail it out at $825 million to contain the crisis. Resolving the bank’s case will remain a central question on whether the government is determined to effectively fight corruption at the highest levels in the government.

Initially, the process of addressing the bank’s case has been marred by flawed handling of the case by the previous government as high-level figures were involved in the embezzlement. Previously during the former government led by Hamid Karzai, the Kabul Bank’s special court concluded the case by sentencing two top officials of the bank to five years in prison. However, the measures taken by Kabul Bank’s special court to resolve the case and bring all the accused to justice were not adequate as it failed to pursue a number of prominent individuals involved in the bank’s case. Many criticized the court for failing to pursue some relatives of top political leaders and government officials who were accused of being involved in the fraud and receiving loans from the Bank.

The NUG’s handling of the Kabul Bank case has been modestly praised by the public and the international community providing aid to Afghanistan. In a major shift in the process of dealing with the bank’s scandal, the new government of Afghanistan started pursuing all involved individuals including relatives of former government officials. While most of the people involved with the case have committed to clearing their accounts with the bank and paying their debts, the delays in collecting the embezzled money and ending the case is indicating challenges for the government handling the Kabul Bank case. The major individuals involved with the scandal are still failing to clear their debts to the bank, and it is unclear if they would be forced to repay the amount of money they owe to Kabul Bank. As part of its procedure for resolving Kabul Bank’s case, the government has said it would seize and sell properties of the individuals in debts to the bank identified in Dubai and Afghanistan.

A major challenge for the government’s handling of the bank’s case is that prominent figures and relatives of top politicians are involved in the scandal. It is very challenging for the NUG to seriously pursue prominent figures and relatives of former government officials. NUG has been reluctant to annoy former government officials who still are powerful and have been in a way backing one side of the last year president elections who are now stakeholders of the new government. It is unclear how the government would attempt to force the high-profile stakeholders of the bank to repay their debts if they refuse to clear their debts and resist against selling their properties for repaying the bank’s money. With no doubt, there are attempts from top current and former government officials to exert pressures on the NUG and influence the processing of resolving the bank’s case.

Attempting to resolve the bank’s scandal, the National Unity Government hopes to restore confidence of the international community and the Afghan public over the government’s determination and resolve to fight corruption in the country. The major international donors of Afghanistan are hesitant to commit to provide more financial aid to Afghanistan due to the widespread corruption in the country. The Kabul Bank case has put Afghanistan under close scrutiny of the international community whether the NUG is serious in fighting corruption and fulfilling its pledges to the international donors. In the Tokyo Conference, Afghanistan committed to fight corruption in exchange the international donors agreed to continue providing aid assistance to the Afghan government and Afghanistan’s security forces after 2014.

The Kabul Bank case suggests how Afghanistan is vulnerable to large-scale corruption. The National Unity Government would have no easy task of fighting corruption and bringing reforms in the country. The status of resolving the banking scandal indicates that the Afghan government still has a long way ahead to fulfilling its commitment to the international community to fight corruption. The efforts to resolve the Kabul Bank embezzlement case seems to be lagging but going into the right direction. However, there are still legitimate concerns and skepticisms on whether how the new government would be able to efficiently handle the bank case and put an end to the scandal.