Former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021, is runner-up for the annual Person of the Year award for Corruption in 2021. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko tops the list of the ‘corrupt person of the year’ prepared by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in recognition of all he has done to propagate organised criminal activity and corruption, a statement said.
“Ghani certainly deserves an award, too. He was breathtaking in both corruption and gross incompetence. He deserted his people, leaving them to misery and death so he could live among the corrupt former state officials in the moral cesspool that is the UAE,” said OCCRP.
Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan amidst Talibani takeover of Kabul
Ghani attracted negative criticism from across the world after he fled from Afghanistan amidst an imminent takeover by the Taliban. He issued his first message after fleeing the country on 15th August after the Taliban captured the capital Kabul. In a video message issued on Facebook, Ghani alleged that he was forced to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban was planning to kill him, and denied reports of taking huge amounts of money with him.
The former Afghanistan President said that he wanted to transfer power to the Taliban peacefully. But he was evicted against his will, as he didn’t want to hang as the president of Afghanistan. He said that he was forced to leave Kabul as the Taliban was looking for him. He said that he decided to not cause bloodshed in the capital, and that’s why fled the country to avoid a huge disaster.
Lukashenko, the only worthy contender for being the most corrupt person of the year- OCCRP
Drew Sullivan, one of the co-founders of OCCRP and who appeared on the panel as a judge, said that it has been a banner year for corruption, but Lukashenko stood apart from the crowd.
Besides Ghani and Lukashenko, other finalists included Syrian dictator Bashar Hafez al-Assad, Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan, and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
As per the OCCRP statement, Assad led Syria into a catastrophic civil war and robbed the country of millions of dollars while clinging to power.
Erdogan, on the other hand, was presiding over a corrupt government that laundered Chinese funds for Iranian oil using state-owned banks, the group said.
Kurz, the leader of the Austrian People’s Party(OVP), along with nine other politicians and media personalities, was embroiled in a case, with allegations of embezzlement and graft.
OCCRP said Lukashenko consolidated unlimited power at home and turned a blind eye to international criticism. Instead, he precipitated the refugee crisis in response to EU sanctions against his country, the statement said. The group further added that Lukashenko was indifferent to the sufferings of his own citizens and desperate migrants, including children, shivering, hungry and barred from settling in Belarus.
