Ethiopia arrests minister, corrupt government officials

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 12, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission of Ethiopia (FEACC) on Saturday announced that it has detained 13 high-profile government officials and individuals on graft charges.

Among the arrested is minister Melaku Fenta, director general of the revenue and customs authority and his deputy Gebrewahed Woldegiorgis.

The latest move against the minister marks the country’s first high-profile arrest on corruption related charges since 2001 when the former defense minister, Siye Abraha, who is currently an opposition official, was similarly detained leading to a sentence of six years behind bars.

Ethiopian police made the arrests on Friday after a court issued a seizure and search warrant during which a huge sum of money including foreign currency was discovered in the residents of the ministers.

Others taken into custody include heads of customs offices, a prominent businessman and customs employees.

The commission said the arrests were made possible due to collaboration with the National Intelligence and Security Service as well as with the help of the public.

In a recent report, the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission revealed that it has recovered more than $1.1 million and other government assets including buildings and land lost in corruption during the last 10 months alone.

Sudan Tribune has learnt that during that the last 10 months the commission has investigated 339 corruption cases with verdicts given to over 164 cases.

Among 409 defendants, the court has found 293 of them guilty on graft and related charges.

Corruption remains a major challenge to the Horn of Africa nation, which was ranked 113th out of 176 countries worldwide by Transparency International in 2012.

(ST)