"Mahmoud Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a major shareholder in beleaguered Kabul Bank.... suggest[ed] that the US Treasury Department guarantee the funds.... “If the Treasury Department will guarantee that everyone will get their money, maybe that will work’’.... Karzai spends most of his time in Dubai — where he lives in a waterfront villa paid for by Kabul Bank... the Afghan and US governments tentatively agreed yesterday to bail out Afghanistan’s largest bank.... the bank spent $155 million on two business properties and 18 villas in Dubai, some of which were occupied rent-free by allies of the government"
Un-flipping-real!!
Related: Afghan Exodus
Checking Out at the Afghan Airport
Obama Administration Uses Karzai to Conceal CIA Corruption in Afghanistan
So HOW MANY SUITCASES of FOREIGN AID did HE PACK?
"Kabul Bank is solvent, officials say" by Deb Riechmann and Rahim Faiez, Associated Press | September 2, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Trying to reassure nervous account holders, Afghanistan’s central bank said yesterday that it will stand behind the nation’s largest bank after its two top executives resigned amid allegations of mismanagement and unorthodox lending practices.
Customers showed up in droves at Kabul Bank branches around the country, and banking officials braced for a run on the bank today as word of the bank’s troubles spread across the country, which is impoverished yet awash in money from corruption, drug trafficking, and international aid contracts....
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Kabul Bank’s losses could exceed $300 million — and that that figure is more than the bank’s assets.
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"Karzai’s brother calls on US to help avert Afghan bank run" by Andrew Higgins and Ernesto Londono, Washington Post | September 3, 2010
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — As depositors thronged branches of Afghanistan’s biggest bank, Mahmoud Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a major shareholder in beleaguered Kabul Bank, called yesterday for intervention by the United States to head off a financial meltdown.
“America should do something,’’ said Karzai in a phone interview, suggesting that the US Treasury Department guarantee the funds of Kabul Bank’s clients, who number about a million and have more than a billion dollars on deposit with the bank.
Like the bailout back here the costs keep rising.
Kabul Bank handles salary payments for soldiers, police, and teachers. It has branches across Afghanistan and holds the accounts of key Afghan government agencies. The collapse of the bank would probably spread panic throughout the country’s fledgling financial sector and wipe out nine years of effort by the United States to establish a sound Afghan banking system, seen as essential to the establishment of a functioning economy.
That shows you the agenda-pushing papers bias to banks right there, as if they have done us great!
Banks are nothing but looting instruments for elites.
Action by the United States, said Karzai, would prevent a run on Kabul Bank and protect other banks, too. He said Kabul Bank is “stable and has money’’ but cannot withstand a stampede by panicked depositors.
I would GO GET MY MONEY RIGHT NOW!
“If the Treasury Department will guarantee that everyone will get their money, maybe that will work,’’ said Karzai, who holds 7 percent of the bank’s shares, making him the third-biggest shareholder. Karzai, who spends most of his time in Dubai — where he lives in a waterfront villa paid for by Kabul Bank — rushed to Kabul Wednesday to join efforts to salvage the bank.
Oh, HE LIVES in DUBAI in a POSH VILLA purchased by the BANK, huh?
Treasury officials have voiced confidence in Afghanistan’s Central Bank, which ousted Kabul Bank’s top officials earlier this week and has sought to stabilize the bank’s finances.
But those moves may have spurred a panic: Depositors, said people familiar with the situation, yanked at least $90 million from Kabul Bank Wednesday and the hemorrhaging of funds accelerated yesterday.
At a news conference in Kabul yesterday, Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal played down concerns about the bank’s future, blaming foreign media for stirring alarm. “Kabul Bank will never collapse,’’ Zakhilwal said. “It will remain strong. The government will support Kabul Bank.’’
F***ing liars are the same in every country!
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"Afghan officials closer to talks with insurgents" by Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press | September 5, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Meanwhile, the Afghan and US governments tentatively agreed yesterday to bail out Afghanistan’s largest bank, according to Afghan and US officials.
The planned injection of cash into Kabul Bank is meant to slow the run on the bank by its customers, who have withdrawn more than $200 million in the past few days amid fears of a wider economic collapse. The panic began last week when the Central Bank ousted the chief executive of Kabul Bank, after discovering that the bank had acted recklessly, lending millions of dollars to allies of Karzai and pouring money into risky investments.
And NOW YOU, the American taxpayer, who had NOTHING TO DO with this THEFT must PAY FOR IT ALL!!
Un-f***ing-believable!!
Related:
"“I think that in the next days, the government of Afghanistan’s response to anticorruption efforts are a key test of its ability to regain the confidence of the.... American people [who] are prepared to support with hard-earned tax dollars and with most importantly, with the treasure of our country — the lives of young American men and women.... and say, ‘Hey, that’s something worth dying for.’ ’’
Yeah, that's why we are THERE FIGHTING and DYING, America!!
So well-connected Karzais can steal YOUR TAX MONEY!
Also see: WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR IN AFGHANISTAN
Yup, GUARDING the OPIUM CROP and OIL PIPELINES is why you are dying, Americans!
Top officials at Kabul Bank and a senior leader at the Central Bank declined to comment publicly on the proposed bailout.
A major shareholder in the bank, Mahmoud Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, said yesterday that he was unaware of a bailout.
What a PoS liar!
These are the guys that are governing Afghanistan, huh? No wonder the U.S. is hated.
And the Taliban?
They would never have allowed such corruption.
He said such intervention would be unnecessary considering that the bank still retained half of its $600 million in assets.
The bailout comes several days after Karzai and other top government officials pledged that they would guarantee deposits....
--more--""Kabul Bank’s principal shareholders under asset freeze; Karzai’s brother, a major owner, exempt from ban" by Andrew Higgins, Washington Post | September 6, 2010
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Struggling to contain asset-stripping at Afghanistan’s biggest bank, Afghan authorities have barred the sale of Kabul properties held by the troubled bank’s principal owners. But the freeze excludes President Hamid Karzai’s brother, who is the third largest Kabul Bank shareholder.
Talk about connections!
Also see: Karzai Kin Agin
The Afghan Central Bank ordered the ban on asset sales in a letter reviewed by The Washington Post....
No restrictions were placed on the president’s own brother, Mahmoud Karzai, who has also borrowed money from Kabul Bank, including $6 million that he used to buy a 7 percent stake in the now-crumbling bank.
“They couldn’t freeze my property because I don’t have it,’’ said Mahmoud Karzai in a telephone interview from Kabul. “I don’t have a single house or parcel of land in my name in Afghanistan.’’
Afghans frequently register their assets in the names of relatives or trusted friends. Mahmoud Karzai spends much of his time in Dubai, where he lives in a luxury villa purchased for $5.5 million with Kabul Bank funds.
Well, at least now you know where your money is going, America.
The move to block asset sales comes as Afghan authorities are struggling to hold Kabul Bank together against waves of depositors demanding their money back. Amid reports that bank funds have been stolen in several cities, authorities want to try to stop bank insiders from selling assets purchased with loans that haven’t been paid back.
It's the same story wherever you put 'em.
You show me a bank, I'll show you a den of looting thieves.
The crisis at Kabul Bank, which still has more than a million customers and handles salary payments for soldiers, police, and teachers, flows from a tangle of murky loans by shareholders to themselves and from risky investments in Dubai real estate.
Yup, they STOLE and GAMBLED AWAY the bank's funds, but YOU MUST BAIL THEM OUT, American taxpayers!
I'm sure it is WORTH IT!
With so many people’s savings, salaries, and political fortunes at stake, what began as a financial mess has morphed into a serious challenge to the credibility of President Karzai and also of his American backers.
What credibility?
You have to have something for it to be challenged, MSM.
Washington has ruled out using any American money for a bailout, despite fears that the collapse of Kabul Bank could leave soldiers unpaid and set back the fight against the Taliban, a struggle in which the United States has already lost more than 1,100 troops and has spent billions of dollars....
And WHERE ELSE are they going to get it, huh?
The FED will just PRINT UP MORE DOLLARS!!
The Afghan Central Bank, aided by Treasury Department advisers, is scrambling to work out a rescue strategy for the coming days, when Kabul Bank’s money is likely to run out....
Yeah, that somehow doesn't involve American dollars, right.
Yesterday, armed officers from the country’s national security agency surrounded the bank’s headquarters in downtown Kabul and ringed its perimeter with concertina wire.
That CERTAINLY DOES NOT REASSURE PEOPLE!
The officials parked three pickup trucks in front of the building, including one mounted on the sidewalk by the main entrance, as throngs of depositors again waited to withdraw their cash....
--more--""Afghan financial watchdog tries to calm fears on Kabul Bank; Assures depositors funds safe despite run on institution" by Deb Riechmann, Associated Press | September 7, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s largest bank is operating with its own money with no infusion of cash from the government despite a nearly weeklong run on the troubled institution that is being closely monitored by international banking officials, the nation’s top banking regulator said yesterday.
Yeah, believe the lie and just relax, America. Never you mind that hand in your pocket.
The governor of the Afghan Central Bank, which is standing by to help if Kabul Bank collapses, assured customers that their deposits were safe and would be guaranteed by the government.
Thanks, U.S. taxpayers!
At the same time, Abdul Qadir Fitrat said that as a safeguard, the central bank had moved to ban the sale of properties that some of the bank’s shareholders own in the capital....
You know, CENTRAL BANKS seem to be a REALLY BAD IDEA!!!
At the request of Afghan officials, a team from the International Monetary Fund arrived in Kabul Sunday to review recent developments in the country’s economic, financial, and banking systems, an IMF official said....
Oh, they will fix everything!
The central bank said Sherkhan Farnood, former chairman of Kabul Bank, and Khalilullah Ferozi, former chief executive officer, resigned because, under new reforms, only banking professionals can hold the top operating positions at banks.
Farnood, a world-class poker player who raised money for Karzai’s reelection campaign, and Ferozi each own 28 percent of the bank’s shares.
That's the perfect guy to run a bank!
Mahmood Karzai said the bank’s former chairman has disclosed that the bank spent $155 million on two business properties and 18 villas in Dubai, some of which were occupied rent-free by allies of the government....
That's about HALF THEIR LOSSES right there!
The OTHER HALF is probably ALL the LOOT THEY STOLE!
He said he has been living in one of the villas, but plans to move out this week.
Yeah, now!
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