Brother of Afghan Leader Is Subject of Wiretapping

[Mefistofeles]

Source: New York Times


By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has been conducting electronic surveillance of a brother of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, as part of a corruption investigation into his business dealings in Afghanistan, according to United States officials.

The National Security Agency’s wiretapping of Mahmoud Karzai, an older brother of President Karzai, appears to be part of a larger criminal investigation now under way by federal prosecutors in New York, according to the officials, who declined to be identified by name discussing a criminal inquiry.

Mahmoud Karzai, who ran restaurants in the United States before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is widely seen as one of the most powerful and well-connected business leaders in Kabul. He has been criticized in Afghanistan for taking advantage of his status as the brother of the president to engage in insider dealing in real estate, cement and other industries, and he has angered powerful officials in the Afghan Army by developing a lucrative residential real estate project on thousands of acres of valuable land in Kandahar that the army claims to own.

His role as an investor in Kabul Bank, Afghanistan’s largest commercial bank — which was taken over by the country’s central bank in late August because of concerns about heavy losses — has brought increased scrutiny to his activities in both Washington and Kabul.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/world/asia/28inquire.html?_r=1&hp