An official from the National Procurement Authority (NPA) on Monday strongly dismissed allegations by politicians that the NPA was corrupt and called on these critics to provide evidence to support their claims.
These politicians must be held accountable for the allegations if they do not have evidence to this effect, said NPA anti-corruption specialist Bakhtyar Najman.
He assured the public that the NPA was conducting its job honestly and transparently.
The statements come just days after two senior Afghan political leaders, Atta Mohammad Noor and Mohammad Mohaqiq, claimed that large-scale corruption was ongoing with the NPA.
Noor and Mohaqiq are also among the founding leaders of the recently established Coalition to Rescue Afghanistan.
“Everyone knows that every ministry which has signed the agreement including the special procurement commission that all of them are partners and contracts are sealed here and in Dubai and they get their share, everyone knows this,” said Noor.
“Everything has been centralized in the National Procurement Authority, whenever the budget is delayed, it happens in the procurement authority, corruption also takes place there,” said Mohaqiq.
NPA officials argue however that since its establishment in 2015, the authority has dealt with over 2,500 projects and has notched up savings totaling almost 18 billion AFs.
“If a citizen of Afghanistan has any kind of claim or allegations, it is better that they prove their allegations on the basis of credible evidence, otherwise on the basis of the law of Afghanistan, making false allegations should be tackled by Afghanistan’s legal and judicial institutions,” said Najman.
“When agreements are singed by a single institution, it means that there is corruption, but it is not important where and when corruption happens, secondly bidding with a limited number companies indicates corruption, because these limited companies get the chance to come to an agreement,” said political analyst Sediq Patman.
“Bidding process is carried out collectively and decisions are taken together; it means that his excellency the president, his excellency the chief executive, his excellency second vice president, the minister of economy, minister of finance, minister of justice and advisor to the president on basic infrastructure monitor the meetings of the commission alongside national and international monitors,” added Najman
The NPA since its establishment has convened more than 114 sessions. Currently it is working on 4,300 projects of which are 900 major projects. The NPA has also cancelled the licenses of 130 companies that reportedly violated the procurement law.