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Kabul Bank Saga Continues
[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
on Monday warned all those responsible for the crisis in Kabul Bank will be prosecuted.

Mr Karzai called on the US and European countries to send all the Kabul Bank related money to Afghanistan without any conditions.

He said Kabul Bank shareholders would have one month to repay the money they have withdrawn and if failed they could face prosecution.

"The former shareholders can no longer be part of the Bank. They must pay all their debts in a month or face prosecution," President Karzai said at a presser in Kabul.

President Karzai cites internal and external factors to have been behind the Kabul Bank crisis and puts a part of the blame on foreigners, especially an American company he names as Price Water House Cooper.

"The American audit company had reported positively about Kabul Bank and it was three months ahead of the crisis, and the Central Bank also trusted the report. This company is under investigation now," Mr Karzai said.

He also partly blames Bearing Point and Delight for what Kabul Bank suffered.

On Saturday the Afghan Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said that restoration of Kabul Bank was one of the Afghan government priorities and that efforts were underway to restore people's confidence in the bank.

Recently there have been reports saying that Kabul Bank was being put into receivership.

The IMF had demanded that Kabul Bank should either be closed down or sold, otherwise a financial assistance programme for Afghanistan could be halted.

The UN had also warned that international donors may halt or redirect their assistance if the Afghan government failed to reach an agreement with International Monetary Fund.

Kabul Bank nearly collapsed last year but was taken over by Afghanistan Central Bank in September.

Some of the Kabul Bank shareholders are accused of personally using millions of dollars of depositors' money.
Posted by: Fred 2011-04-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=320348