HERAT CITY (SW) – The mayor of Herat city along with nine other government employees have been taken into custody over charges of corruption worth millions of afghanis.
Jilani Farhad, spokesman for the governor of Herat province, told Salam Watandar that mayor Ghulam Hazrat Mushfeq and nine of the municipality workers have been taken into custody by the anti-corruption task-force of the interior ministry in collaboration with the provincial administration.
According to him, these people are accused of embezzling millions of afghanis from municipal revenues. Farhad said that the amount of government revenue that these individuals have misappropriated will be clarified once the investigation is completed.
Citizens of Herat have long been complaining about corruption in the revenue-generating departments, especially the municipality and customs of the province.
Meanwhile, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian wrote on his Twitter page that the mayor of Herat and seven of his colleagues have been arrested by police on suspicion of corruption and bribery.
A day earlier, the Attorney General’s Office indicted 21 people, including the current governor of Herat, health officials and a number of members of the provincial council on charges of embezzling 20 million afghanis from the budget earmarked to tackle situation after the coronavirus pandemic.
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