The former minister of telecommunication, Abdul Razaq Wahidi, on Monday appeared in court on corruption charges.
At the end of an open trial, the jury decided that more investigations are needed to clarify the allegations.
This was the first time a trial held for a member of Afghanistan’s cabinet while the accused minister called it a “drama” court.
The prosecutor filed charges against Minister Wahidi, accusing him of misuse of his authorities in recruitments and wastage of the 10 percent telecom service fees.
But the defendant denied any wrongdoing and called the former minister of finance, Eklil Hakimi, as the main culprit.
He claimed that the establishment of “Real-Time” system for the collection of telecom taxes has been removed from his case while his job was suspended for the establishment of that system.
In addition, he warned that he will not appear in the court if the issue was not included in his case in the next trial.
On January 2017, President Ashraf Ghani suspended the accused minister of telecommunication and information technology after an investigation into the collection of a 10 percent tax on mobile phone airtimes imposed in 2015.
The mobile phone levy was imposed as part of efforts to gradually reduce Afghanistan’s dependability in international donor aid in coming years.
Source Ariana News
