{"id":429931,"date":"2011-05-25T12:20:38","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T12:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/25\/steel-mill-officials-to-be-tried-in-absentia-for-65-million-br\/"},"modified":"2011-05-25T12:20:38","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T12:20:38","slug":"steel-mill-officials-to-be-tried-in-absentia-for-65-million-br","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/steel-mill-officials-to-be-tried-in-absentia-for-65-million-br\/","title":{"rendered":"Steel Mill Officials to Be Tried in Absentia for 65 Million Br"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Addis Fortune<\/a> (Addis\u00a0Ababa)<\/p>\n

Eden Sahle<\/p>\n

23 May 2011<\/p>\n

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Goliham Abase of Sheba Steel Mills and Asheref Ali, manager of the company, who are charged with swindling the government out of a little over 65 million Br, are being tried in absentia after fleeing the country.<\/p>\n

The four co-accused are being held at the Akaki Detention Centre subsequent to being denied bail.<\/p>\n

The Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (FEAC) filed the charges against the six individuals at the Federal High Court, First Corruption Bench, on February 17, 2011.<\/p>\n

Sisay Mulugeta, 48, head of the technical room of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation’s (EEPCo) Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) District; Mesfin Kebede, 39, technical supervisor of EEPCo; as well as Fiseha Melaku, 39, and Abyi Ayelew, 26, meter controllers of EEPCo; are charged with participating in the alleged crime with Sheba Steel.<\/p>\n

Sheba Steel, which has stopped operations since Goliham and Asheref absconded, is considered the principal criminal alongside the individuals.<\/p>\n

Officials or employees of companies accused of engaging in corruption will be considered as principal criminals, the Criminal Code stipulates.<\/p>\n

The EEPCo employees “harmed the interests of the government” and undeservedly benefitted by allegedly neglecting to check the meters and reducing the meter speed while they were working at high voltages, Mulugeta W. Giorgis, prosecutor for the FEAC, claimed in the charge.<\/p>\n

They are also charged with leaving the transformer houses open, failing to check whether the factory was using the authorised amount of electricity, failing to lock the meters, and failing to report the meter charges.<\/p>\n

All four defendants in police custody requested bail the day after they were charged.<\/p>\n

The applications were rejected by the three presiding judges, Mustefa Ahmed, Yohannes Gesiyas, and Teume Gebru. The alleged offence disqualifies them from bail, the judges found.<\/p>\n

Goliham and Asheref were summoned to court in newspapers but have reportedly left the country. The judges ruled for the hearing to continue in their absence, denying their rights to defend themselves against the charges.<\/p>\n

The alleged collusion between the employees of EEPCo and Sheba Steel cost the government 65 million Br between 2004 and 2008, according to the public prosecutor.<\/p>\n

Only Abyi, a distance learner in management at Bahir Dar University, refuted the charges, claiming that he was not employed by the EEPCo in 2004, as the prosecutor alleged, but was only employed in 2007.<\/p>\n

He has been granted permission by the court to take his exams at Menelik Primary & Secondary School, located in Arat Kilo, Arada District.<\/p>\n

All six are charged with corrupting officials and abusing their power to receive undue benefits.<\/p>\n

If found guilty, the amount of money allegedly involved as well as the breach and purpose of the breach may land them imprisonment of between 10 years and 25 years and maximum fines of 100,000 Br each.<\/p>\n

A total of eight witnesses have testified against the defendants.<\/p>\n

On a monthly basis, Sisay and Fiseha were paid 50,000 Br, Abyi was paid 30,000 Br, and Mesfin was paid 5,000 Br, on average, by Sheba Steel for their assistance, they testified.<\/p>\n

The defendants stole electricity from the corporation while the meters were not running and billed the company at low tariffs, which is not authorised for factories, they testified. The defendants allowed the company to pay between 150,000 Br and 200,000 Br monthly while the amounts should have been between 500,000 Br and 700,000 Br, the witnesses claimed.<\/p>\n

The public prosecutor also applied for the confiscation of a little over 37 million Br deposited in an account at Dashen Bank’s Dukem Branch in Sheba Plastic Industry’s name.<\/p>\n

Sheba Plastic is the sister company of Sheba Steel.<\/p>\n

He also put in an application for the seizure of 2,569 dollars and requested the court to appoint a third party property administrator for the deserted Sheba Steel Mills.<\/p>\n

The requests for the seizure were approved by the judges who restricted the transfer of the properties to third parties until a final verdict is passed by the court.<\/p>\n

However, the appointment of an administrator was rejected by the court.<\/p>\n

The public prosecutor had filed the application for the seizure of the company at the second criminal bench of the same court, and was therefore bound to take his request to a judge of the same bench, they said.<\/p>\n

The case was adjourned to July 7, 2011, for rulings on the pre-trial hearings.<\/p>\n

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Addis Fortune (Addis\u00a0Ababa) Eden Sahle 23 May 2011 Goliham Abase of Sheba Steel Mills and Asheref Ali, manager of the company, who are charged with swindling the government out of a little over 65 million Br, are being tried in absentia after fleeing the country. 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