Former Afghan Prez says open to UN audit of his finances

New Delhi, Sep 8 : Former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country in the wake of the Taliban takeover of the war-torn nation, has again denied stealing millions from the treasury.

"My wife and I have been scrupulous in our personal finances.

I have publicly declared all of my assets.My wifes family inheritance has also been disclosed and remains listed in her home country of Lebanon.

I welcome an official audit or financial investigation under UN auspices or any other appropriate independent body to prove the veracity of my statements here," Ghani said, as reported by Al Arabiya.During his statement released on Wednesday, Ghani said he had left at the urging of the palace security in order to avoid the risk of bloody street fighting, the report said.

Ghani also apologised, saying he regretted "how it ended", according to a statement."Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, but I believed it was the only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her 6 million citizens.

I have devoted 20 years of my life to helping the Afghan people work toward building a democratic, prosperous, and sovereign state – it was never my intent to abandon the people of that vision," Ghani said in a long statement posted on his official Twitter handle.