28 October 2009, NYT: Brother of Afghan Leader Said to Be Paid by C.I.A.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/world/asia/28inquire.html
September 27, 2010
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Subject of Wiretapping
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. [1] 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 [2] in late August because of concerns about heavy losses -- has brought increased scrutiny to his activities in both Washington and Kabul.
The N.S.A. wiretapping of Mr. Karzai in Afghanistan has been under way for at least several months, during a time when the crisis at the Kabul Bank was worsening.
The United States has created investigative teams with the Afghan government to fight corruption in the country, but the investigation of Mr. Karzai by federal prosecutors in New York appears to have been kept separate from that joint effort.
While the new joint anticorruption unit in Kabul has its own wiretapping capability, the fact that the N.S.A. has been involved in conducting surveillance of Mr. Karzai underscores the secrecy and sensitivity surrounding the investigation.
Gerald Posner, a lawyer for Mahmoud Karzai, said Monday that Mr. Karzai had not been contacted or interviewed by the F.B.I. or the Justice Department, and had not been told that he was the subject of an investigation.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that prosecutors had opened an inquiry into Mr. Karzai. Mr. Posner said that Mr. Karzai had canceled a planned trip to the United States.
The inquiry comes at an awkward time in the relationship between the Obama administration and the government of President Karzai. For months, the White House openly criticized President Karzai for tolerating widespread corruption that undermined the credibility of his government at a time when the United States was pouring more troops into the fight against the Taliban. But recently, the administration has begun to back off its anticorruption campaign out of a growing sense in Washington that it was having little effect other than to antagonize President Karzai and his political circle.
Until recently, another of President Karzai's brothers, Ahmed Wali Karzai, received far more public scrutiny than Mahmoud Karzai. Ahmed Wali Karzai, the chairman of the provincial council of Kandahar who is widely considered to be the political boss of southern Afghanistan, has been accused of benefiting from narcotics trafficking, [3] and United States officials have said that he also has had a longstanding relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency. [4]
Mahmoud Karzai, by contrast, did not go into the Afghan government and has immersed himself in business. But several Karzai relatives have said that Mahmoud has been planning to form a new political party in Afghanistan and has been thinking about running for president when his brother's term ends.
But as he has gained prominence, accusations of corrupt dealings have plagued Mahmoud Karzai. According to a person close to Mr. Karzai, Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, privately confronted President Karzai over Mr. Karzai's business dealings in a recent meeting in Kabul. After the meeting, President Karzai called Mr. Karzai and questioned him, according to the person close to Mr. Karzai.
Mr. Karzai could not be reached for comment on Monday, but in an interview last week, he denied any wrongdoing, and said that all of his business dealings in Afghanistan were honest and that he was investing in Afghanistan's future growth.
But even some of his relatives are critical of Mr. Karzai's aggressive style in Afghanistan.
"I have told him that he should have handled his business exactly the way we did in the U.S.," said another Karzai brother, Qayum Karzai. Both Qayum and Mahmoud Karzai have owned and operated restaurants in the United States.
"He should not have had so much of a gray area around his business dealings," Qayum Karzai said. "I personally have told him he should have had experts and lawyers look at his deals, and not just do it on handshakes and friendships, and make sure it doesn't smell fishy, because you are the president's brother."
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/world/asia/05karzai.html
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/asia/01kabul.html
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/world/asia/07afghan.html
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html