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| Minister rejects charges of corruption |
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| KABUL (NNI): An Afghan government official has rejected suggestions in “The Washington Post” that he accepted millions of dollars from Beijing in exchange for awarding a Chinese company a lucrative copper-mining contract, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan reported.
Mining Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel denied any wrongdoing and insisted that the tender that gave the multibillion-dollar project to the state-run China Metallurgical Group in 2007 was transparent and approved by many different people.
An article in the “The Washington Post” quoted unnamed United .States. officials as claiming that Adel accepted at least $20m from China in awarding the project. The Chinese firm is expected to invest some $3b and pay the Afghan government about $400m per year in royalties to mine one of the world’s largest copper deposits. |
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