Ex-USAID contractor sentenced for fraud

KABUL has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and a $9,500 fine, the agency said on Wednesday.

Noor Anwarzai, 36, was sentenced by Afghanistan’s Special Anti-Corruption Tribunal on April 8, 2013. He was found guilty of violating Afghan Penal Code’s Article 268, regarding embezzlement of funds and Article 310 regarding the forgery of documents.

A statement from USAID said another former contractor accused in the case, Abdul Khabir Kakar, was acquitted and subsequently released. The sentencing came as part of what US officials described as an ongoing campaign against fraud and waste in reconstruction and development activities in Afghanistan.

Anwarzai and Kakar are former employees of the recently-concluded Afghanistan Farm Service Alliance project implemented by Citizen’s Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA).

The two were arrested by the Afghan National Police in November 2012 on charges of conspiring to embezzle approximately id=”mce_marker”0,000 of USAID funds. They were accused of falsifying official documentation from the Ministry of Finance.

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