Sherkhan Farnood

Sherkhan Farnood was the Chairman of Kabul Bank until late 2010, which is Afghanistan's largest private financial institution with over 1 million customers. Farnood holds 28.16% of the shares in the Kabul Bank. He also owns Pamir Airways, in partnership with Khalilullah Fruzi/Frozi, Mohammed Fahim and possibly others. According to media reports, by November 2010 Da Afghanistan Bank insisted both Farnood and Kabul Bank chief executive Frozi had been removed from bank management;. As of early 2011 both are effectively under house arrest and cannot leave the country.

An ethnic Uzbek, Farnood is originally from the northern Kunduz Province of Afghanistan. He received education and a start in business in Moscow, Russia. During the 1980s and 1990s, he ran a hawala, or an informal money transfer organization in Moscow. The hawala was reportedly used by heroin and opium smugglers to transfer money to Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Farnood became a prominent poker player, he took part in the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE). Prior to his detention, he spent most of his time in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he owns a number of villas under his name on Palm Jumeirah.