PAKTIKA GOVERNOR: ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L KABUL 004153 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM, INR/B STATE PASS USAID FOR ASIA/SCAA USFOR-A FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2019 TAGS: KDEM PGOV AF SUBJECT: PAKTIKA GOVERNOR: ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION REF: KABUL 2807 Classified By: Interagency Provincial Affairs Coordinator Scott Kilner for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) officers met on November 22 with Paktika Province Deputy Governor Juma Mohammed at his request to discuss corruption in general and specific allegations of corruption involving Paktika Governor Abdul Quyum Katawazay. Mohammed detailed what he claims is a systematic graft and patronage system involving several other high-ranking GIRoA officials in the province. This is the first instance in Paktika of a senior official with first-hand knowledge making such allegations. While Katawazay remains a good interlocutor and is trying to deliver basic government services to the population, these allegations are serious. The PRT therefore intends to follow-up closely with Deputy Governor Mohammed. Embassy law enforcement officers are reviewing the specific allegations and will work with appropriate GIRoA law enforcement authorities to investigate these allegations. End summary. "DESTROYING RELATIONS BETWEEN GIROA AND THE PEOPLE" -------------- -- ¶2. (C) Increasingly distraught by the extent of the corruption in Paktika, Deputy Governor Deputy Governor Juma Mohammed referred to his own bona fides as a "governance professional" with experience as a district sub-governor in Paktika and Kandahar extending back to President Daoud's regime. Paktika governor Katawazay and his line director accomplices were "destroying the possibility of a relationship between GIRoA and the citizens of Paktika," Mohammed asserted. Katawazay was most often swayed by personal financial gain, he said. ¶3. (C) Mohammed outlined various opportunities for corruption, citing, specifically, shura funds that are skimmed (or the shuras never held),illegal taxation of wood entering the province, selling donated wheat, failure to pay community-based security "arbakai" during the recent presidential elections (per reftel, community based security payments were problematic in many provinces, and there was little transparency relating to the payment mechanisms),and possible KICKBACKS involving PRT contracts. He detailed several schemes of common corruption at the district level, including illegal checkpoints, fees for national identity paperwork, and taxation of bazaar sellers. Finally, he outlined systematic fraud involving ministry registries (tashkils) where officials, including the Afghan national security forces, pocket money for "ghost" employees. ¶4. (C) Biographic note: Juma Mohammed, Deputy Governor of Paktika, is a Zadran Pashtun from Paktika's Gayan district. He was appointed Deputy Governor in February 2009, coinciding with Governor Katawazay's appointment. Prior to this, he was the District Governor for the Gayan district of Paktika province. He also served in several other districts in Paktika as District Administrator during the administration of Paktika's previous Governor Mohammed Akram Khpalwak. Under President Mohammed Daoud Khan, Juma Mohammed served as District Administrator of the Khushamond district of Paktika, and the Daman district in Khandahar. End bio note. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Allegations of corruption are nothing new in Paktika, but it is nonetheless disconcerting to see a fairly good interlocutor and senior government servant become the target of such pointed accusations. Given the degree of specificity of these charges and the Deputy Governor's unique access, we intend to request additional information from Mohammed and to follow up as appropriate. Mohammed's motives for coming forward are not apparent or necessarily pure, but we do not think he is acting from an agenda of personal ambition. He is an unlikely replacement for Katawazay (if, as is rumored, Katawazay moves on),being from "the wrong tribe" and relatively unknown to President Karzai. It is possible that Mohammed has come forward as a result of our earnest efforts to engage him and others in order to bring corruption to light. End comment. RICCIARDONE