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THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE Global Village Ethiopia cracks down on corrupt businessmen Prosecutors of the Ethiopian Revenues and Cus-
toms Authority (ERCA) are to appeal the ruling of the Federal High Court against prominent business- men Kebede Tesera and Ayele Debela, who were sen- tenced to 20 and 22 years of imprisonment, respec- tively, and had some of their properties confiscated.
Kebede Tesera was found guilty on five of the
seven counts of illegal banking, tax evasion and money laundering by the Federal High Court 11th Criminal Bench, presided over by Judge Mohammed Amin. He was sentenced to serve a 20-year jail term and was also fined 165,000 Br on July 12, 2010.
Ayele Debela, who was charged for similar offenc-
es on ten counts, was found guilty on all the counts and was sentenced by the same bench to 22 years of imprisonment plus a fine.
The court held that properties of the defendants
that were proven to be the fruits of the crimes may be confiscated. As a result, the court ordered the con- fiscation of shares of Kebede in Dire Building SC and a plot of land in the Arada District, which were the only properties that the prosecutors had proven to have been obtained through crimes.
The court ordered the confiscation of a residential
house in Lafto District, two vehicles, and 12 million Br worth of shares in Nib International Bank which Ayele owned. However, several vehicles and shares that the prosecutors claimed to be the properties of Ayele were rejected by the court for lack of support- ing evidence.
“We are not particularly satisfied with the rulings
concerning the properties of the convicts,” Eshetu Woldesemayat, director of the Prosecutors’ Director- ate at the ERCA, told Fortune. “We will continue to pursue our claim against the properties.”
Ayele and Kebede have remained in custody since
early June 2009, first at La Gare Detention Centre and then at Addis Abeba Prison Centre, after bail was denied to them. Ayele was charged on July 17, 2010, along with his daughter, Mekdes whose charges were suspended because the police could not locate her.
Following the raid by the customs authority on a
chain of businesses a year ago, ten businessmen, in- cluding Ayele and Kebede, were arrested for alleged massive tax evasion. Lencha Zegeye, one of the busi- nessmen arrested during this time, was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on top of a 100,000 Br fine in March 2010.
Similar cases against other prominent business-
men, like Ayalew Tessema, chairman and major shareholder of Ayat Real Estate SC, and Gebrekidan Beyene, a.k.a. Morocco, general manager and share- holder of Gebrekidan Plc, are pending at the 11th
Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court.
In Ghana journalists decry kangaroo law
The National Executive Committee of the Ghana
Journalists Association (GJA) on July 23, 2010 called on the Ghana police to use constitutional mechanisms to address grievances and complaints
they may have against journalists and the media. According to the GJA, criminalization of speech
in any form was unacceptable and would be resisted with the support of society in consonance with the 1992 Constitution.
At a meeting between the GJA and the Ghana
Police Service, there was consensus that the two in- stitutions would cooperate in a manner without nec- essarily compromising their roles and that the media was not above the law.
The meeting became necessary when the police
summoned two editors over news reports in their re- spective media.
On July 21, Enimil Ashon, editor of state-owned
Ghanaian Times newspaper, was summoned by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police over a story the police said was undermining the image of the police.
Earlier on July 19, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, acting
news editor of Joy FM, an Accra based independent radio station was charged with “publishing false news with intent to cause fear or harm to the public or to disturb the public peace,” contrary to Section 208 of the country’s Criminal Code of 1960. The police have since forwarded his docket to the Attorney General’s Department for advice.
Dadzie’s invitation sparked a widespread con-
demnation of the application of the law, with Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) requesting the authorities to drop the case and call on supporters of free speech to agitate for the repeal of the law. Center for Democratic Development (CDD), an Accra-based governance NGO, also in a statement called for the repeal of the law.
However, the Ministry of Information in a state-
ment on July 21 denied that the police had charged Dadzie, saying he had only been cautioned.
The statement signed by John Akologu Tia, the
minister of information, said “The (President John Atta) Mills administration believes in the strengthen- ing of our institutions including the media and will be the last to truncate the freedom of the press, but the rights that are enjoyed by the media must be bal- anced with responsibility.”
At sister’s funeral, Mugabe at- tacks diplomats
circle, including Sabina. He accused the West of imposing the sanctions to force him to step down, saying “to hell” with those who were opposed to his rule.
“Europe and America want to keep these odious
sanctions. They are now saying Mugabe must go first, and they choose someone to lead the country,” he said. “We say to hell with them. They will not decide who is going to lead the people of Zimbabwe.”
This apparently did not sit well with the guest
diplomats, US ambassador Charles Ray, German ambassador Albrecht Conze and the Greek and EU charge d’affaires Stephanos Loannides and Barbara Plinkert. On Sunday night one of the diplomats con- firmed the walkout telling Newsday they were baffled by Mugabe’s attack.
“This was a Christian funeral and those of us who
came to pay our last respects were told to go to hell. I found this theological contradiction baffling,” he said.
It is not unusual for Mugabe to use any public
platform to launch a tirade against the West, who he blames repeatedly for the country’s economic down- fall. ZANU PF insists the targeted measures, which have been imposed against specific individuals and companies aligned to the Mugabe regime, are the reason for Zimbabwe’s economic collapse. The party and Mugabe however have no problem with the large amount of aid international countries give Zimba- bwe, and still urge the international community to funnel money to the government.
Mugabe meanwhile used the same speech to make
a comment that the profits of the Chiadzwa diamond fields must not line the pockets of “greedy politi- cians.”
“Diamonds should not be pocketed by some in-
dividuals ... they should help to improve the whole country,” Mugabe said. “We will ensure there is col- lective benefit and not individual benefit.”
The comments are highly ironic as Mugabe’s wife SW- RADIO AFRICA — Western diplomats who
came to pay their respects at the funeral of Zimba- bwe President Robert Mugabe’s sister over the week- end were reportedly left “baffled” after Mugabe used his tribute speech to once again lambaste the West.
Diplomats from America, Greece, Germany and
a European Union official, on Sunday walked out of the ceremony at Heroes Acre, where Mugabe’s sister and close confidante Sabina was enshrined. Sabina passed away last Thursday.
Mugabe was addressing thousands of mourn-
ers and paying tribute to his sister when he angrily started criticizing Europe and the US for the targeted sanctions still in place against him and his inner
Grace last week made headlines for apparently being a major shareholder in one of the diamond firms cur- rently mining the Chiadzwa site. It is being reported that Grace is a shareholder in the Mbada mining firm, which is a joint venture operation involving the parastatal Zimbabwe Mining Development Corpora- tion (ZMDC). The firm is at the heart of controversy at the site, which is legally owned by a London based group, African Consolidated Resources (ACR).
According to ACR the mining operations by Mbada
are in contempt of the Supreme Court, which ordered all mining to stop until the ownership fight is com- pleted. Mbada’s parent company, the South African Reclamation group, insists this is not the case.
August 4-10, 2010 Page A-2
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