New Afghan Leader, Putting Focus on Graft, Revives Bank Fraud Inquiry --- KABUL, Afghanistan — Signaling his intent to improve the Afghan government’s poor reputation on corruption, President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday ordered a new examination of the stagnant Kabul Bank fraud prosecutions. -- The bank, likened to a roughly $800 million Ponzi scheme after powerful insiders pillaged it through fraudulent loans, has come to symbolize the legal impunity enjoyed by Afghanistan’s elite. And the case has become a major sticking point for donor nations and the International Monetary Fund, which at one point made prosecution of those responsible for the bank’s collapse a condition of any new loans to the government. -- Just three days into Mr. Ghani’s presidency, his decree about the bank was clearly meant to reassure Western partners that aid to the country would not be a bad investment. The day before, as Afghanistan signed long-term security deals with the United States and NATO, Mr. Ghani had emphasized the importance of international aid in tackling “shared challenges.” -- In the Kabul Bank case, although 21 defendants were convicted on various charges in March 2013, the case has languished on appeal for more than a year as the court deliberated whether to uphold sentences that many argued were light to begin with. Only a few flagrant offenders have seen jail time. -- In his aggressively worded decree, Mr. Ghani ordered the detention of the convicted and a review of the case by the Afghan Supreme Court with the possibility of expanding charges. It was unclear, however, whether the judiciary could expand the list of defendants beyond the scope of the original prosecution. -- The order issued tight timelines for action, including three days to detain those whose appeals are pending, a month and a half for the Supreme Court to produce its findings and 10 days to work out cooperation agreements with countries where the stolen money may have been sent. It also explicitly directed the Attorney General’s office, which some Afghan and Western officials have accused of shielding people who benefited from the fraud, to cooperate with the investigation. -- But even as numerous Western and Afghan officials applauded Mr. Ghani’s move, some noted that for now it was only a gesture. - Read More, NYTimes, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/asia/afghanistan-president-corruption-investigation.html?_r=0