Afghan Biographies

Haji Mohammad Rasa


Name Haji Mohammad Rasa
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth
Function/Grade Food Contractor for Afghan National Police
History and Biodata

2. Previous Function:
Shuja Abdara and Hamid Company, Food Contractor for Afghan National Police (2018, 20190623)

3. Biodata:



Background:

The Attorney General’s Office, or the AGO, approved on Sunday, June 23, 2019 the bail for Haji Mohammad Rasa, a food contractor accused of embezzling Afs600 million ($7.5 million) from meat supply to the Afghan National Police. Rasa was arrested in May 2019 along with 22 other individuals, among them higher and lower rank officials of the Ministry of Interior, who, the Ministry of Interior said, collaborated in the purchase of meat with him in 2018.

The total amount of contract between the Interior Ministry and the contractor company is estimated Afs1.2 billion (around $15 million).

Sources said the owner of the company, Shuja Abdara and Hamid, and its staff members had forged the stamp of the Ministry of Interior and were collaborating with police commanders in provinces to conduct the “embezzlement”.

Documents show that majority of the amount was embezzled in Kabul, Parwan, Nangarhar, Kapisa, Punjsher, Baghlan, Nuristan and Laghman provinces.

Based on leaked documents, the company was supplying 5,000 kilograms of meat to the national police in a province, but they were receiving 10,000 kilograms of meat in bills by police commanders. In some cases, when police commanders were not prepared to do so, the company was using a fake stamp to do its job.

“Law has set certain limits for detention and monitoring of individuals. The assigned prosecutor’s suggestion was that the individual should be free so that we can complete our investigation in proper time to make sure that all dimensions of the case are assessed,” said AGO spokesman Jamshid Rasuli.

The Acting Minister of Interior, Massoud Andarabi, said a center has been provided to the Attorney General’s Office at the Ministry of Interior to assess the case and collect their required documents. He said that the bail for Rasa does not mean that he has been acquitted by the court.

“The case has vast dimensions and you [reporters] can follow the progress as the investigation continues,” Andarabi added.

The Attorney General’s Office has imposed travel ban on at least eight of the suspects of the case, including Haris Siraj, the acting head of the Interior Ministry’s logistics department; Nasir Zaid, head of the finance department; Mirwais Janbaz, acting head of logistics department and five other senior and lower officials.
“Haji Rasa has not a direct responsibility in the contracts, but he is currently in detention against the principles of the criminal law,” said Rohullah Sakhizad, Rasa’s defense attorney.

 

Last Modified 2019-06-23
Established 2019-06-23