Hairatan Port and Commerce Township Services Director:
Abdul Latif Sahak (20190310)
National Standards Authority NSA head at the port, Maulvi Yahya Luqman (20230603)

Background:
Currently the Hairatan Port authority was delinked from the central government as revenues were collected and spent without informing the government in Kabul. some specific circles were involved in corruption and financial embezzlement at the Hairatan port, but he did not name anyone.

Sahak said his plan was to centralize Hairatan’s revenue but it worried some individuals who feared losing their benefits.

A close ally of former jihadi leader in Balkh, Jumma Khan Hamdard, Sahak has been among critics of former Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor and Balkh local administration.

Noor, the executive chief of the Jamiat-i-Islami party, had said the president was trying to appoint his own figures to important revenue offices in order to keep his campaign strong.

Two days earlier, Noor said the president wanted to remove officials who did not support him from their government positions.

“If the president sees an official is supporting another presidential candidate team, he would immediately remove him,” he had said.

Ghani employs his thieves and disqualified individuals to government jobs and fires officials and officers even with master’s degrees only because they do not support him, he had said.

Ebadullah Darman, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, also confirmed that Latif Sahak had been appointed as services in-charge in Hairatan port, but added that there were some problems in the matter.

He was unaware about a central government delegation’s visit to Balkh, but said Latif Sahak would be introduced to his position in near future.

“You know the government authority is divided by 50-50, when one side accepts something, the other side sometimes shows displeasure, but I am sure the issue would be solved soon,” he concluded.(20190310)