A Tripartite MoU worth of USD 4.26 million signed between AGO, the Danish Embassy, and UNDP

Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a new project of anti-corruption named “Anti-Corruption, Transparency, Integrity & Openness (ACTION)” with the Danish Embassy in Kabul and UNDP.

The ACTION project is designed to provide technical support to the government’s justice institutions, namely the Anti-corruption Justice Center (ACJC), training needs assessment, launching training programs for enhancing civil society and establishing a training center. The total budget for this project is USD 4.26 million funded by Denmark and will be implemented by UNDP in 18 months.

Wahiduddin Arghoun, Deputy of AGO in Financial and Administrative Affairs appraised the support from Denmark and UNDP. Arghoun talked about AGO’s serious intention for fighting against corruption and added, “the leadership of the AGO puts the anti-corruption campaign as a priority and has made a remarkable achievement in the recent years.”

According to Arghoun, a part of this project is the capacity building of the ACJC’s staff. By implementing this project, the ACJC’s staff would be able to investigate in a much better manner the high-level crimes.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Ambassador of Denmark Mr. Nicolaj Hejberg Petersen reiterated his government’s support to the rule of law and justice institutions of Afghanistan in their fight against corruption. According to him, Denmark is very pleased for supporting Afghanistan in its fight against corruption. He added, “The Anti-Corruption Justice Center has achieved result in prosecuting high-level corruption cases. However, the institution still needs strong political, technical and logistical support.”

Joining the signing ceremony, UNDP’s Resident Representative for Afghanistan Abdllah Al Dardari emphasized on the need to fight corruption in all its forms so Afghanistan can develop and achieve the SDGs. He added, “Corruption is one of the most daunting challenges Afghanistan is facing today as it impedes security, economic development and fair access to essential public services”

According to him, the UNDP will support the Afghan government for achieving its SDG and combat against anti-corruption.

It is expected that by implementing this project, the investigative process of cases will be accelerated and transparency and responsiveness in the working process will also be enhanced. Additionally, citizens’ access to justice will be facilitated and their citizenship rights will be respected.

The implementation period for this project is set from August 2019 till the end of 2020.