In reaction to a claim made by Rahmatullah Nabil, the former chief of NDS, Presidential Palace said that Khalilullah Ferozi was not released. Siddiq Siddiqi, the spokesperson for the president, said that due to critical health condition, Mr. Ferozi was transferred to his house and he is under house arrest.
In a tweet posted on Wednesday, Nabil claimed that President Ghani “released Khalil Firozy one of the prime suspect of Kabul Bank scandal last week after contributions of USD 30 million to his campaign camp.”
Spokesperson to President Ghani, Sediq Sediqi, however, described the claim as “baseless and demagogic” which served for Nabil’s campaigning objectives in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled to be held late September.
He clarified that the assigned commission had decided to transfer Ferozi to his house after finding him in a critical health condition. “This has no truth in it Nabil sahib, because of his deteriorating health conditions the Gov has put him under severe house arrest,” Sediqi replied to Nabil’s tweet.
According to BBC Persian service, the president has allowed Ferozi to be transferred to his house under “special conditions” after evaluating his health condition and financial commitments.
Ferozi and Kabul Bank’s founding chairman, Sher Khan Farnood, were sentenced to 15 years in prison each for embezzlement and fraud in a reopened inquiry to the case after President Ghani took the office in September 2014.
Farnood was also fined USD 237 million, while Ferozi was fined USD 137 million.
The two suspects were initially sentenced to five years in prison.
Kabul Bank collapsed in 2010 after media reports exposed the misappropriation of more than USD 900 million.
