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Kabul: In its final report of the investigation into the authenticity of the theft of millions of dollars by the former President of Afghanistan, U.S. special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), wrote that Ashraf Ghani answered only 5 of the 56 questions of this organization, and these answers were given through his lawyers.
Earlier, in its initial report on this matter, SIGAR has said that its initial research shows that, contrary to published reports, the former president of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, did not “take” millions of dollars with him when he fled from Kabul.
In the new version of this report, except for Mr. Ghani’s non-cooperation with Sigar, it is stated that SIGAR was practically unable to trace the stolen money, but continues its investigation.
Based on this, three large and serious investigations have been started, which are called “Take the money trail”, which focuses on the departure of the property and assets of Afghans, including senior government officials and their political associates, following the fall of the government.
In this report, the conclusion of the preliminary investigation was confirmed and it was stated that although it is unlikely that Mr. Ghani and his companions took millions of dollars of Afghan money with them when they fled the country by helicopter, it is highly likely that a significant amount of the money of the Afghan people, including Millions of dollars from the presidential institution’s money disappeared in the chaos after the fall of the government.
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani fled the country with a number of his close associates, including Hamdallah Mohib, National Security Adviser, and Fazel Fazli, the head of Afghanistan Administrative Department on Sunday (August 15) last year, at the same time the Taliban arrived in Kabul.
In the first days of Mr. Ghani’s escape, some media reported, citing sources, that Mr. Ghani took tens of millions of dollars in cash with him when he fled Afghanistan.
Mr. Ghani denied this accusation weeks after it was raised and said that he is ready to take part in any investigation conducted by an independent international body or the United Nations in this field. He also said that the helicopters were handed over to “inspection” after reaching the initial target. The special inspector for the reconstruction of Afghanistan wrote in his initial report that after the flight of Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, and before the Taliban reached the presidential palace, about five million dollar was in a suspicious and unknown state, possibly distributed among the President’s Protection Services (PPS) staff who remained in the palace after his escape. SIGAR said that the source of this money has not been determined.
At the time of publication of this report, SIGAR emphasized that these findings are preliminary and to complete and finalize the report, they are waiting for the fugitive president of Afghanistan to answer their questions.
