Members of the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of Parliament, said on Wednesday that they are concerned about the increase of money in Code 91, the emergency fund, which they say is spent on unnecessary projects.
However, Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi, the acting minister of finance, said at the Wolesi Jirga session last Monday that transferring money from other codes to Code 91 is legal. “The transferring take place based on necessity and to make sure there is a balance between miscellaneous codes.”
Some members of the Wolesi Jiga said that the transfer is illegal.
Zabiullah Atiq, a member of the Wolesi Jiga, said: “Ask the minister to talk about where he spends the Code 91 funds–unfortunately he does not respond.”
Amid speculations over existence of corruption in the transfer of money from the Code 91, there are reports that 2.4 million Afghanis were released from the Code 91 for meal allowances and house rent for Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani, the former head of the Election Commission, who has recently pled guilty in a US Federal court to welfare fraud.
The reports also indicate that another amount of over 1.4 million Afghanis was allocated for house rent of Daud Sultanzoi, the former advisor to president Ashraf Ghani and the incumbent member of Ghani’s electoral campaign.
“The government has ordered the allocation of nearly 932 million Afghanis for house rents, air tickets, meal allowances and purchasing of cars for those individuals; there is no legal basis for this,” said Khan Aqa Rezayee, a member of the Afghan parliament.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Palace insisted on the transparency of Code 91.
“Transparency is a principle for us, the allegation is political and completely baseless,” said Latif Mahmood, deputy spokesman for the Presidential Palace.
The State Builder campaign team also reacted to accusations that money was added to Code 91 at the same time as the presidential elections.
“No initiative existed that Code 91 money was to be spent on the State Builder campaign team,” Said Najib Danish, Spokesman for the State Builder team
Leaked documents, which belong to the parliament’s budget and finance committee, indicate that last year money was withdrawn from “Code 91,” and added to it, with little oversight.
Codes 91 and 92 are two emergency funds within the government budget that cannot be accessed except by the president’s order.
