Referring to a housing scheme contract with one of the main criminals of Kabul Bank which was later cancelled by President Ashraf Ghani, a member of Parliament claimed on Sunday that senior government officials were bribed by Khalilullah Firozi in order to get the project.

"Khalilullah Firozi has been involved in frauds and bribery in the past and this time once again he bribed the officials," MP Naqibullah Faiq said.

After mounting criticism of government over a controversial housing scheme project, President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday issued a decree invalidating the contract recently signed with Firozi, a bankrupt debtor of Kabul Bank.

Firozi was freed from prison last week on Wednesday to take part in the inaugural of "Smart City Township" project he signed with the Ministry of Urban Development.

At the inaugural ceremony of the project worth $900 million USD, the government officials said the program was aimed at helping the debtors to become able to repay their obligations.

However after serious pressures on the government, Ghani eventually decreed the cancelation of the contract.

But the legal experts and a number of MPs raised questions on how the government can give a project to a criminal.

The legal experts call the move unlawful and a violation of Criminal Law of Afghanistan.

"It's a distressing issue and the problem is that there is lack of knowledge of law," legal expert Nasrullah Stanekzai. "The article 113 of the Criminal Law doesn't allow such a thing happen."

However after the cancellation of the contract, Ghani ordered a thorough investigation of the contract signed with Firozi – who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a court verdict last November. He was found guilty in embezzlement of over $900 million in cash and assets of Kabul Bank – collapsed in 2010.

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/4514

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