LOGAR (SW) – An official at passport department in Logar province has reportedly escaped along with an estimated 3 million afghanis in revenue collected there.
Rafiullah Samim, Logar’s director of information and culture, told Salam Watandar that last week, Farhad, an employee of the province’s passport department, escaped along with 3 million afghanis in proceeds from the distribution of passports he had illegally obtained from applicants.
Logar’s director of information and culture added that the province’s intelligence officials had been tasked with arresting the accused as soon as possible and bringing him to justice.
Meanwhile, Ahmadullah Anas, spokesman for the Logar Police Command, said that 10 people had been arrested so far in connection with corruption in the passport department, and that investigations were under way to find the main culprit.
A former employee of the Logar passport authority, on condition of anonymity, also told Salam Watandar that an employee of the office, named Farhad, illegally issued 5 to 10 passports a day to applicants against bribes.
According to him, Farhad has been doing this for about six months now and may have earned more than 3 million afghanis this way. The source emphasizes that the person accused of corruption may have gone abroad.
However, a number of passport applicants in Logar say they have not been able to obtain a passport so far, despite paying bank fees and going through the bio-metric process.
Applicants also complain about mistreatment by passport office staff and security guards, saying that the passport distribution process in the province is fraught with problems.
ENDS
