A Ministry of Interior (MoI) general was on Monday sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Anti-Corruption Criminal Justice Center’s (ACJC) primary court after being found guilty of accepting a substantial bribe.

The ACJC prosecutor said the deputy chief of MoI policy, Gen. Wase Rauofi, was arrested after accepting a $150,000 USD bribe in exchange for awarding a fuel contract to a private company.

“[A number of] videos and audio [clips] have been recorded which show a person comes to your home and tells you that this bag is from Haji Khalid and there are 15 bundles of [10,000] dollars. And then you Mr. General are telling them that you will return the bag to them tomorrow,” ACJC prosecutor Mujib Rahman said.

However, Rauofi rejected the claims and maintained he was innocent throughout the trial. He said he was the victim of a plot by a number of individuals in the ministry.

He also claimed that he was tortured after being arrested.

“I told my deputy that it is a shame for me that I should do this after my 35 years of service. I worked in the counter-narcotics department in Nimroz. I cannot commit this shame. I have two sons; one is in the military and the other works at a company. We have a good life,” Wase said.

However, Wase was found guilty and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The court meanwhile has issued summonses for six other MoI officials including Murtaza Rahimi, deputy chief of MoI procurement office; Nawidullah Bakhshi, head of procurement; Mohammad Akbar Abdul Rahimzai, head of formation; Taj Mohammad Farawal, deputy head of logistics and Azad Khan Nasiri, procurement office manager. They are all wanted for questioning in connection with the case.

This is the fourth official to be sentenced to prison by the ACJC court since November.