Ermias Amelga , chief executive officer of Access Real Estate S.C., was released on Friday evening, February 15, 2013 after securing his bond. He was released after being held in custody at Kirkos District Police for one day on allegations of writing bad checks.

The facts behind the case were related to a check held by an Access Real Estate payee, which had been inaccurately marked 'return due to insufficient funds' when it should have been indicated that although sufficient funds existed to cover the check they had already been committed for other purpose, according to a press release from Access Real Estate on Saturday afternoon.

"While that in itself is certainly not a desirable situation, it is more a result of normal working conditions where numerous checks are routinely issued on a daily basis against multiple accounts, rather than anything else," the press release stated.

Ermias had just returned from travel in Djibouti before he was summoned to the police station on Thursday evening.