Senior Adviser To Afghan President Charged With Embezzlement

Noorullah Delawari

Afghanistan's attorney general today announced that a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai has been arrested on embezzlement charges.

The arrest of Noorullah Delawari is the second this week of an Afghan official or former official from Karzai's government.

On March 28, the attorney general's office said Enayatullah Qasimi was being charged with mismanagement of public funds. Qasimi was Karzai's transportation minister from 2004 to 2006.

Those charges are linked to his approval of contracts during 2004 for the purchase of four aircraft for the state-owned Afghan Ariana airlines.

Prosecutors say the government was overcharged $9 million for the planes.

compiled from agency reports