On Monday, May 13, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Minister of Finance appeared before the parliamentarians to present explanation on why he had accused a number of MPs of smuggling, nepotism, misuse of power and other sorts of crimes a week earlier.

The minister not only continued to emphasize that a certain number of representatives of the people in the lower house are involved in the crimes mentioned above but also presented a number of documents as proof to the accusations. The lawmakers accused by Zakhilwal are Hameedzai Lalai, Haji Zahir Qadeer, Samiullah Samim, Mohammad Azim Mohseni and Mohammad Arif Rahmani from Kandahar, Nangarhar, Farah, Baghlan and Ghazni provinces respectively.

The MPs named by Zakhiwal have pronounced the accusations by him as baseless and an insult to the dignity of the parliament. They have accused him of saying lie.  Apparently, Zakhilwal is just trying to prevent the parliament from time and again summoning him. However, this is a very serious matter that should be strictly followed by Attorney General of Afghanistan.

The truth should be found and brought in front of the people of Afghanistan as criminals cannot represent them or a liar cannot be their minister. Only in that case either the Minister of Finance or the accused MPs can be pressurized to resign from their positions. But will investigation take place?

This is the not the first and the only case. In the recent past, certain number of high government authorities whose involvement in embezzlement, nepotism and other forms of corruption have been proved have never been jailed. And therefore, Afghanistan stands in the list of the most corrupt countries of the world. Being one of the most corrupt countries of the world means that, almost every person, holding low or high authority, is involved in corruption up to the level within his approach. With such a condition the future of the country is bleak.

Once President Hamdi Karzai said, “Do rob. But do not take the money out of Afghanistan. Instead make high-rise buildings in your own country.” What should one understand from this statement of the president? It serves an encouragement for the civil servants and government authorities to loot the public.

Revelation by Mr. Zakhilwal is encouraging, although he has also been accused of corruption. But this revelation may lead not anywhere. There is no true willingness in government to investigate such cases of corruption.