KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan attorney general's office has arrested two employees of the nation's electoral commission and two people working in the money transfer business on allegations of fraud in the September parliamentary elections, the deputy attorney general said Thursday.
The arrests are the latest problem to overshadow the vote, which has been seen as a test of President Hamid Karzai's commitment to curb corruption in his government since last year's fraud-ridden presidential election.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission have the authority to investigate complaints of election misconduct and certify results, but the attorney general can probe criminal activity. He announced on Wednesday that he would investigate allegations of fraudulent vote counting and ballot manipulation.
The investigation by the nation's top prosecutor, who was appointed by Karzai, has raised speculation among Western diplomats that the president or his advisers are upset with the election results and are pushing the attorney general to probe election fraud and throw the victories of certain candidates into doubt. Not all western diplomats agree, saying they have seen no evidence that Karzai is behind the investigation.
Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari denied allegations that Karzai had ordered the attorney general to investigate. He said that after the investigation was completed — hopefully within a month — the results would be handed to the Supreme Court. A western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate political issue, said the court's rulings on any cases could change the outcome of certain races.
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