Both foreign banks, Alfalah and Standard Chartered, are
investigating how Tolo TV accessed confidential banking details of their VIP
customer – Afghanistan’s finance minister, Omar Zakhilwal.
Tolo TV, Afghanistan’s most prominent channel, disclosed
banking statements of Mr. Zakhilwal in a report on 1 August. The report details
financial transactions totaling over US$1 million by Minister Zakhilwal over
the past 5-6 years.
Tolo’s reporting links Zakhilwal’s transactions to alleged
corruption.
However, Mr. Zakhilwal has accused the private TV station,
owned by an Australian-Afghan businessman, of “bias” and “political assassination”.
Amidst the drama, Afghanistan’s anti-corruption entity has
said it would investigate Mr. Zakhilwal’s banking details and possible
corruption as reported by Tolo TV.
Quid pro quo
Weeks before Tolo’s reporting of Zakhilwal’s bank accounts,
officials in the Karzai government accused Gen. Dostum, a notorious warlord and
now member of a major Karzai opposition, of “treason”. Dostum’s alleged treason
case is on the Attorney-General’s table awaiting instructions from the Presidential
Palace.
Last week, the National Directorate for Security (NDS)
detained Hussein Yasa, a member of anti-Karzai coalition of the former Northern
Alliance figures, on charges of spying for Pakistan.
This week, Zakhilwal, a Pashtun and a key member of Karzai’s
government, appears to be used as a scapegoat in the new so-called “character
assassination” game.
Dostum and his anti-Karzai allies now have a popular retort
to any government calls for accountability: bring Zakhilwal to justice first.
Rogue NDS elements
Amrullah Saleh rebuilt the post-Taliban NDS from the scratch
in 2002-2010. A former Northern Alliance diehard protagonist, Saleh implanted his
protégés all over the spy agency.
Saleh was sacked in June 2010 but his agents are still regularly
feeding him with top classified information.
The new NDS director, Rahmatullah Nabil, has been unable to
purge the agency fearing this could have severe political as well as security
consequences.
There is no doubt Tolo acquired Mr. Zakhilwal’s personal
bank statements through a well-positioned
source.
Tolo’s relations with Mr. Saleh, a Dostum brother-in-cause against
Karzai, are indeed too cozy.
On 14 July, Tolo broadcast one full hour of Saleh’s
political ranting in a soft interview format.
Tolo charges high for a one hour commercial but Saleh
appears to have not paid cash but two bank statements.
The missing link is Washington.
For years, Americans have nurtured Tolo TV with lots of dollars
and unwavering political support. Did the Yellow Building know Tolo was
detonating a political bomb with the Zakhilwal Banking Report?
It would be naïve to say Saad Muhsini, Tolo’s owner, did not
run the report through some American eyes.
Some of the amazing features of the conspiracy theory: allows the writer to correlated any unrelated events, needs no data/ proof and you can add whatever flavor you want
ReplyDeleteIt stinks... Why should we always look at the issues from the ethnic lens, we should learn to judge people by what they do or have done, rather than by who they are..if x is corrupt, we need not defend him/ her blindly, and the same should be applicable to all...at least we don't expect this from our educated youth.
The sad part about this blog is that ethnic discrimination is written all over it. If you are going to make assumptions like the one Regarding Saleh and his spies why not actually put real sources. I would think that by making a public statement, like the one on this blog, you would make your commentaries credible by being neutral and let the evidence speak for itself.
DeleteAfghanistan has suffered 30+ years of war that has resulted in political differences and tensions between different ethnic groups. Let the people live in peace for once, stop with the allegations that result in ethnic discrimination...not from our young Afghans.
Reading such commentaries make me believe that the media gate-keeping should still be in practice in 3rd world countries like Afghanistan. The write seems to have been comparing apples with oranges. Look at the Zakhilwal's case and look at Tolo's interview with Saleh as well as looking at Dostom's case...three totally irrevelant and totally different cases. Factual errors like "Saleh was sacked", while the whole mainstream media is full of the real report that he and Atmar resigned willingly.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I would have never come to this blog, if it wasn't linked to facebook. I regret the time I spent in reading this totally biased and unprofessional piece.