KARZAI'S CHIEF OF STAFF MOVES AGAINST CORRUPTION

S E C R E T KABUL 003640 E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/10/2019 TAGS: DEA JUS PGOV PINR PREL SUBJECT: KARZAI'S CHIEF OF STAFF MOVES AGAINST CORRUPTION REF: A. KABUL 02245 ¶B. KABUL 02246 Classified By: D/Ambassador Francis Ricciardone for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) D/Ambassador Ricciardone met November 10 with presidential chief of staff Daudzai to express our deep concern about rumours we heard that convicted drug trafficker Ismael Safed - currently serving a 16 year sentence - might be imminently pardoned. Daudzai said, "not to worry one bit," that pressure to pardon Safed had been intense for the last three months, but the President had no intention of pardoning him. Daudzai mentioned that Uzbek MPs Satar Derzaby and Shaker Kargher and Ismaili sect leader Mansoor Naderi had petitioned for Safed's release, and that the MP's had promised Karzai all the votes from Takhar in the recent presidential election. (Note: British Charge Dodd also demarched Daudzai on the Safed case and received the same assurances. End Note) ¶2. (S) Daudzai went on to explain that he had been on special guard against the direct access to Karzai by the chief of the Office of Administrative Affairs, Sadiq Mudabbir, since Mudabbir orchestrated last April's presidential pardon of five drug kingpins (Reftels Kabul 02245, 02246). Now, Daudzai said, in his own daily morning meeting with Karzai, he personally watches for any signs that Mudabbir may have advanced paperwork for such pardon cases directly to Karzai. He also warned Mudabbir that he would publicly denounce him if he tried to submit any more pardon requests for drug traffickers to the President's office. ¶3. (S) On a related topic, Daudzai mentioned that he has a non-political channel of cooperation with the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on criminal cases and was adamant that the President will not pardon "either drug dealers or kidnappers though I can't guarantee what he might do in other kinds of cases." He said he knows there are many cases where kidnappers are released, but that is because the judges take bribes, not because the President's office sanctions their release. ¶4. (S) Comment: Daudzai appears fully in the know on several other pending corruption cases involving high level officials which we had also raised with him. He professes to understand the risks if Karzai fails to support the legal processes underway to arrest and prosecute them. End Comment. EIKENBERRY