Afghan authorities take over largest bank to avoid meltdown

[maddezmom]

Source: WaPo

By Joshua Partlow and Andrew Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

KABUL - Afghanistan's Central Bank has taken control of the country's biggest and most politically potent private bank and ordered its chairman to hand over $160 million worth of luxury villas and other real estate purchased in Dubai for well-connected insiders, according to Afghan bankers and officials.

The intervention aims to shore up a key pillar of the Afghan economy and also of the battle against the Taliban - both of which have been marred by rampant corruption.

Kabul Bank handles salary payments for Afghan soldiers, police and teachers, and has taken $1.3 billion in deposits from ordinary Afghans. It has said it has $500 million in liquid cash.

Kabul Bank's wayward lending practices, real estate speculation in Dubai and weeks of venomous feuding between major shareholders have threatened to wreak economic and political havoc.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083106082.html

[Wilms]

1. Your tax dollars @work. n/t