Kabul, April 11: Afghan President Hamid Karzai today announced action against bad loans and rogue shareholders in the war-torn country’s troubled Kabul Bank, which came close to collapse last year.
The bank had to be taken over by the country’s central bank after claims that former executives granted themselves huge loans off the books which were used partly to buy luxury properties in Dubai.
“They (the rogue shareholders) will not have shares in the bank and the loans they have taken they must pay back within one month,” Karzai told a press conference.
“If they are paid back within one month, excellent. If not, they’ll be legally pursued by the government of Afghanistan.”
He added that the rogue shareholders “have been expelled from the bank totally”. Their shares are now in state hands.
Karzai insisted that deposits by ordinary Afghans who had money in Kabul Bank were safe.
-Agencies