Afghan officials say an ``erroneous' audit and inadequate help from international banking advisers compounded long-running financial problems at the embattled Kabul Bank. The comments came after a top US Treasury Department official visited Kabul Thursday to discuss improving oversight of the nation's private banking sector.
The Afghan Finance Ministry said in a statement that Afghan and US officials agree that while mismanagement and questionable lending lay at the heart of the bank's troubles, some blame also should be placed on an ``erroneous' audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers and inadequate international technical assistance and supervision. A.F. Ferguson & Co, the Pakistan-based affiliate of PricewaterhouseCoopers that conducted the audit, said it did not understand the basis for the comment.