MAIMANA (SW) – A number of traders at the Aqina dry port have complained about the alleged extortion of a foreign company called TCRC here.
In conversations with Salam Watandar, the traders said that the company is a ‘mafia’ and extorts $ 8 per ton from traders under the pretext of checking the quality of oil and gas imported to Afghanistan.
Abdul Rahim, a representative of Aria Europe trading firm at the Aqina dry port, said that the company was conducting inspections of merchants’ good despite two state-owned companies, Norms and Standard and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, doing the same. He alleged the TCRC unjustly extorts money from merchants.
According to the businessman, TCRC is a ‘mafia’ that was formed in the past by the ‘big mafias’ of the previous government. He added the traders protested against this company several times, but the company has not stopped operating yet.
Azizullah, a representative of Nasir Omar Company, and Nasir Ahmad, another local merchant, said that the company should have been linked to Norms and Standard and the Petroleum Products Regulatory Authority, but on the contrary, it was created by powerful figures of the previous government and is still active.
Mohammad Ullah, general manager of petroleum products and liquefied natural gas, confirmed the merchants’ complaint, saying that the company extorts money and does not hand over the proceeds it collects to the treasury.
The merchants have called on the officials of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate to stop the activity of this company as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, when Alauddin Erkin, a Salam Watandar reporter, went to the office of TCRC at the Aqina dry port for its views, the company officials refused to talk.
ENDS
