Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Tamrat G. Giorgis
19 April 2009
Two of the 12 businesspeople, charged for their alleged role in a financial fraud federal prosecutors claim has damaged Nile Insurance S.C., wrote a long letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse seeking an executive intervention.
Abebaw Desta and Minweyelet Atnafu, founders of Star Business Group (SBG) and a series of subsidiary companies, wrote an 18-page appeal in mid-March 2009, and send copies of it to several other senior government officials and agencies.
The two business partners are among 12 businessmen and insurance professionals who are charged for alleged involvement in the issuance of seven unconditional financial guarantee bonds worth 41 million Br, given on behalf of seven companies, while serving as directors and top executives of Nile Insurance.
The Federal Supreme Court released seven of the defendants on bail, after overturning a ruling by the Federal High Court; these are Tekalegn Gedamu Mahtsentu Feleke, Almaz Mogus, Tesfaye Tafesse, Desu Tamrat, Tekle Tesfaye, Tesfaye Aklilu, and Tesfaye Fentie. The court ruled that four of the businessmen, - Abebaw Desta, Minweyelet Atnafu, Worku Megra, and Temesegen Mehari - who own the six private companies indicted in the same case, be denied bail until such time that prosecutors bring to a close testimonies from their witnesses.
The Federal High Court, Sixth Criminal Bench, began to hear 18 witnesses testifying on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, which continued on Thursday.
Amidst this legal battle, two of the defendants now behind bars are urging the Prime Minister and his deputy to intervene by instructing the Ministry of Justice to release them on bail. This request is part of the nine appeals they made, including the auctioning of 21 trucks that they said are now parked idle. Although the Federal High Court ordered these trucks - held as collateral for the guarantee bonds by Nile Insurance - to be sold at public auction, the process has been suspended after an announcement was made, due to the absence of a Chief Executive Officer of Nile, whose authority is notarized by the courts.
Nile Insurance Company has been under the caretaker management of the central bank since August 2008; authorities at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) have called a General Assembly of shareholders for today, April 18, 2009, in order to elect a Board of Directors that would subsequently hire the Chief Executive Officer.
However, senior government officials, who requested anonymity, have said the executive branch has no intention of intervening in a case that is in due process of the law.
"The government has no desire to short-circuit a case that is in the judicial domain," a senior government official told Fortune.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Addis Fortune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
