Afghan mining minister accused of being bribed

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 18th November, 2009

There have been reports that the Minister of Mines in Afghanistan has been accused of accepting a bribe of at least $20 million.

The Washington Post has claimed Mohammad Ibrahim Adel accepted money to ensure a lucrative copper mining contract went to a Chinese firm.

The transaction allegedly occurred in 2007, when the Afghan government awarded the multi-billion dollar project to the state-run China Metallurgical Group.

The Chinese firm contracted to invest nearly $3 billion and pay the Afghan government royalties of some $400 million per year, in exchange for access to one of the world's largest unexploited copper deposits.

Concerns were raised at the time by other mining interests in the US and Canada, that the bidding process on the Aynak deposit in central Logar province may have been handled improperly.

The US State Department has said the allegations are very serious as the issue of corruption in Afghanistan was a topic of great importance during the Karzai election process.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now expected to raise the issue with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Clinton is in Afghanistan for Mr Karzai's Thursday inauguration.

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