Mahmoud Karzai

5 Stories

Kabul Bank Honchos Punished for Fraud—Kind Of

Karzai brother conspicuously absent

(Newser) - An Afghan court convicted 21 people for their involvement in the Kabul Bank scandal today, a development that would have been nigh-unthinkable not long ago in the notoriously corrupt country, the New York Times reports. But independent observers say the sentences were surprisingly light given the severity of the fraud...

Karzai Family Squabbling Over Ill-Gotten Gains

Theft, kidnapping, and more involved in Afghan intrigue

(Newser) - It won't be long before Hamid Karzai's days as president of Afghanistan are finished—and his family members are scrambling to carve out and protect their slice of the family's fortune, the New York Times reports. Over the past decade, the Karzais have gotten rich off military...

Karzai's Brother Skirts Kabul Bank Freeze

Afghanistan's top bank teeters on the brink

(Newser) - With Kabul Bank in crisis , authorities in Afghanistan have frozen some assets of all the bank’s principal owners—except for Mahmoud Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The Afghan Central Bank has sent a letter banning the bank’s owners from selling property, the Washington Post reports, but...

Officials May Have Smuggled US Aid Out of Afghanistan

More than $3 billion flown out of Kabul Airport

(Newser) - US investigators suspect that high-ranking Afghan officials are smuggling US aid money out of the country and putting it in financial safe havens abroad. More than $3 billion in cash has been flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, the Wall Street Journal reports, and though...

Afghan Poker Star Funds Secret Villas for Karzai & Pals

Kabul Bank gives hidden loans to officials

(Newser) - Afghanistan’s largest commercial bank has been giving off-the-books multimillion-dollar loans to top members of Hamid Karzai’s government, to help them buy luxury villas in Dubai. Kabul Bank's founder and chairman is Sherkhan Farnood, Afghanistan’s only world-class poker player, and many of the villas, including Karzai’s own,...

5 Stories