KABUL: Afghanistan has launched an investigation after it emerged that President Ashraf Gani’s nominee for agriculture minister was wanted for tax evasion in Estonia, an official said on Sunday.
According to Interpol’s website, Mohammad Yaqub Haidari, 52, is wanted for “large-scale tax evasion, fraudulent conversion” in a case dating back to 2003.
“We have started our investigation based on Afghan law. If this accusation is proved, he will be removed from the list of cabinet nominees,” presidential spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai said.
Haidari said he was on the list but was victim of a political conspiracy.
“When you enter the world of business and politics, this is what happens,” he was quoted as saying.
He said the taxes were owed not by him but by a person who bought a company from him that did business in Estonia.
Haidari has been on the list for years, but it was not widely known or reported in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s new cabinet was unveiled on Monday after three months of wrangling following the election of Gani and the formation of a “national unity government” in the wake of last year’s fraud-mired polls.
The “unity government” deal was seen as saving the country from the risk of imminent civil war when both candidates claimed to have won the election in a stand-off that fanned long-standing ethnic tensions.
The names of the 25 new ministers have already been sent to parliament where lawmakers will vote for them on Tuesday.
