Ayat Accuses Land Authority of Failing to Pay Relocation Costs

Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)

Eden Sahle

20 June 2011

Ayat SC filed a judgment execution at the Federal High Court, Ninth Civil Bench, on May 23, 2011, accusing the Addis Abeba City Administration Land Administration and Construction Permit Authority of failing to pay the relocation expenses of residents on 7,900ht it is leasing.

The Arbitration Board had found that the city is liable for the expenses of relocating residents on the land, on January 20, 2011.

The board was approached by Ayat and the land administration authority for arbitration after the former constructed condominium houses on 3,773sqm, smoke houses on 1,033sqm, and a warehouse on 137,494sqm that it did not have lease rights for.

Ayat requested to lease an additional 504,000sqm from the land administration authority, which argued that Ayat should be denied the plots as they had done construction work on land on which it had no lease rights.

The board agreed, denying Ayat’s request for the additional land.

Ayat, which was established as a private limited company in 1996, appealed to the Supreme Court on March 29, which upheld the ruling of the Arbitration Board. Following this, the company appealed to the Cassation Bench, which decides on the misinterpretation of laws by lower courts.

The bench is yet to pronounce a verdict on the appeal by the company, whose major shareholder and chairman of the board, Ayalew Tessema, is facing 23 charges by the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA). The charges include tax evasion, illegal banking, and money laundering. The case is pending at the Federal High Court, Eighth Criminal Bench.

The land administration authority, which had demolished the structures put up by Ayat on the land it had no lease rights for, also demanded from the Arbitration Board that the developer reimburse its demolition costs.

Belyi Kebede and Anteneh Sisyi, both members of the board, as well as Muradu Abdo, chairman, said they did not have the jurisdiction to decide on this claim.

Ayat had entered into a 60-year lease agreement for a 2.4 million square metre plot in 1990, agreeing to pay 9.6 million Br in compensation to the farmers who were residing on the land.

However, the land administration authority is responsible to move residents on the 7.900ht, Abraham Asha, lawyer for Ayat, had argued in front of the Arbitration Board.

Assefa Abreha, the presiding judge, ordered the land administration authority to execute the decision of the Arbitration Board or inform the court of a reason for not doing so, before adjourning the case to Wednesday, June 22, 2011.

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