Herat mayor, six employees jailed over graft charges

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): The criminal court of western Herat province has sentenced, fined and dismissed the mayor and six employees of the municipality for corruption and bribery, the Attorney General Office (AGO) said on Wednesday. In a statement, the AGO said the mayor and six employees of the Herat municipality were sentenced during an open trial by the criminal court.

The judges sentenced Mayor of Herat Ghulam Hazrat Mushfiq and Khalid Omar, the director of development and markets of the municipality, to five years and one month in prison each for bribery and fined them $75,000 and dismissed them from their job. Wahidullah Haqyar, director of revenue, Massoud Nizami, director of buildings control, Samiullah Rezaee, director of technical services, Farid Ahmad Ahmadi, director of bills, and Ehsan Ahmad, director of human resources at Herat municipality, were each sentenced to three years in prison on bribery charges, fired and fined them.

Massoud Nizami, controlling officer of the municipality, was fined 30,000 afghanis by a court for serious crimes and corruption. Meanwhile, Mayor Ghulam Hazrat Mushfiq, who is currently in prison, wrote on his Facebook page that he was imprisoned under a conspiracy hatched by some people.

He added the final decision of the court would reveal everything as he would present strong documents. “It is not a matter of concern that I and my colleagues have been convicted on bribery charges by the criminal court in accordance with the decision of the primary court. I don’t want to write something premature but only want say that after the final decision of the court, everything will be reversed and Inshallah (God willing) I will appear, to serve my people, with very strong and valid documents,” Mushfiq wrote. According to him, the faces of those who plotted against him will be exposed.