A Kabul appeals court yesterday acquitted a former British soldier convicted of bribery in Afghanistan, with a senior judge citing a lack of evidence against him.
Bill Shaw, 52, was originally given a two-year sentence in April after being found guilty by the newly established anti-corruption court of trying to pay a US$25,000 bribe for the release of two vehicles impounded by the intelligence services.
“I thank the judge and the court for reading and understanding what I was trying to do,” a teary Shaw said after the ruling as he stood with his legs still in prison chains.
At the time of his arrest Shaw, who has been made an MBE for his services in the military police, was working for G4S, a company providing security for Britain’s Kabul embassy.
He was detained with his co-defendant, Afghan bodyguard and translator Maiwand Limar, whose sentence the judge downgraded to eight months from the previous two years.
Judge Gul Mohammad told a courtroom packed with British embassy officials, journalists and Shaw’s work colleagues that there had been insufficient evidence against the Briton under article number four of the penal code.
The UK-backed anti-corruption tribunal was established as part of efforts to curb Afghanistan’s entrenched corruption problem, targeting mainly government ministers and officials.
A shaking Maiwand said the ruling was not acceptable to him as he had been treated more harshly than Shaw, for whom he worked.
“This is unfair, am going to lodge a petition,” he said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has in the past blamed foreign contractors for much of the entrenched corruption in his country.
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