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Afghan graft prosecutor 'fired'
[Al Jazeera] A leading prosecutor in Afghanistan says he has been fired for refusing to block corruption investigations into senior government officials.Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar, a former deputy attorney-general, told The New York Times newspaper that Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and his allies had blocked or stalled investigations into more than two dozen officials. Learning from Eric Holder, or is it the other way around? He said the probes included cases into cabinet ministers, ambassadors and provincial governors. "He [Karzai] won't sign anything. We have great, honest and professional prosecutors here, but we need support," Faqiryar told the Times. "We propose investigations, detentions and prosecutions of high government officials but we cannot resist him [Karzai]." The account has been largely corroborated by five western officials familiar with the cases, who said that Karzai and his government have repeatedly thwarted prosecutions against high-ranking officials, the paper reported. One US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Afghan prosecutors had prepared several cases against officials suspected of corruption but Karzai was "stalling and stalling and stalling". Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Kabul, the capital, said Afghanistan's attorney-general, Ishaq Aloko, had told a news conference on Sunday that Faqiryar "is well past retirement age - he's 72". "Apparently retirement age in Afghanistan is 65. His term had been extended for a few years, but he was long overdue for his retirement," she said. Posted by: Fred 2010-08-30 |
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