VZCZCXRO9957
OO RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #0348 0271629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271629Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5135
INFO RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 3920
RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS KABUL 000348 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SRAP, SCA/A AND INL 
LONDON PLEASE PASS TO AMBASSADORS HOLBROOKE, EIKENBERRY, WAYNE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KJUS AF
SUBJECT: Afghanistan's Anti-Corruption Unit Obtains First Conviction 
 
¶1. (SBU) The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the Afghan Attorney 
General's Office on January 25 obtained its first conviction since 
its establishment in April 2009.  This marks a milestone for a 
country internationally criticized for its lax attitude toward 
endemic corruption and inadequate efforts to combat it.  ACU 
Prosecutor won the case against Mohammad Zakir, an Investigative 
Prosecutor from the Eastern Zone of Kabul assigned to work national 
security cases, who was charged with taking a $400 bribe to drop a 
criminal case.  Although the monetary value of the case is small, the 
case is significant because it marks the first one successfully 
processed through the new ACU from investigation, through trial, to 
conviction. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The defendant was sentenced to six months in prison and a 
fine equal to the amount of the bribe.  The Chief Judge of the 
three-judge panel showed leniency by imposing a sentence six months 
less than the full year prison term required by law in bribery cases. 
 In this case, the judge considered the defendant's poverty and six 
children to be mitigating circumstances worthy of sentence reduction. 
 The Afghan Penal Code permits a judge to reduce a sentence in the 
presence of mitigating circumstances. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The ACU, established to prosecute official corruption cases, 
is divided into two teams of six prosecutors who are mentored by 
advisors from the USG, UK, and EUPOL.  The ACU currently has 38 
active cases. 
 
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