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Charge 1. The Case of the Bank Loans
The first indictment against Ato Seeye Abraha, Ato Assefa
Abraha and Ato Mihreteab Abraha, alleges that both Ato
Assefa Abraha and Ato Seeye Abraha had ordered the
President of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, to give bank
loans to their brother Mihreteab Abraha and his company
called MFAM Plc. It further alleges that the orders were
given through telephone calls made between 27/2/96 and
9/1/2001. Subsequent to the orders, Ato Mihreteab is said to
have taken Birr 6,900,250.00 in the form of term loans and
Birr 10,800,000 in the form of overdraft loans.
- It further alleges that the loans were given outside the
normal lending procedures of the Bank, due to the orders
given to the President of the Bank, and hence accuses Ato
Seeye of abusing his powers as a Member of Parliament,
and Ato Mihreteab of illegally benefiting there from. Ato
Assefa Abraha has also been accused of abusing his
authority, both as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Bank as well as Head of the Public Enterprises Supervising
Authority.
Verdict: Not Guilty
Charge 2. The Case of Customs Duty
This case involves Ato Assefa Abraha, Ato Seeye Abraha, Ato
Tamirat Layne and Ato Kahsay Abay. Through the written
instructions of Ato Tamirat Layne, the then Prime Minister of the
Transitional Government of Ethiopia, At Kahsay Abay is alleged to
have imported five second-hand trucks, duty-free, in 1992.
Allegedly, Ato Seeye and Ato Assefa Abraha had cajoled Ato
Tamirat Layne to sign the letter instructing the Ministry of Finance
to allow the duty-free importation of the trucks, while Ato Tamirat is
accused of abusing his authority as a Prime Minister in order to
benefit Ato Kahsay Abay.
Verdict: Not Guilty
Charge 3. The Case of Temnit's Employment
In 1992, Dr. Abdi Adem, the then Deputy Minister of Health is
alleged to have ordered the employment of Ato Seeye's sister
Temnit Abraha in one of the public hospitals in Addis Ababa, as a
pharmacist. The allegation is that the rules and procedures for
employment were not observed, and that this was done on the
request of Ato Seeye Abraha, the then Minister of Defense.
Verdict: Not Guilty
Charge 4. The Purchase of Trucks from AMCE
Ato Seeye Abraha in his capacity as a Member of
Parliament, and CEO of the TPLF- owned, Endowment Fund
for the Rehabilitation of Tigrai (EFFORT), is accused of
assisting his brother Ato Mihreteab Abraha in buying 5 trucks
from AMCE at a discounted price. It is alleged that Trans-
Ethiopia S. Co., a subsidiary of EFFORT had bought 213
trucks at a price much lower than the going rate. Ato Seeye
is then accused of having requested the then General
Manager of AMCE, through intermediaries, to sell five trucks
to Ato Mihreteab at this discounted price given to Trans-
Ethiopia S. Co., in October 1997.
Verdict: Guilty
Note: This really was a phony charge. The guilty verdict related this charge is
completely unjust, although understandable for all obvious reasons. The court
gave its verdict based on a statement given by the prosecutor's star witness
TPLF Politburo Arekebe Okbay. It was previously reported by many media
outlets that Arekebe was discredited during the cross examination and was
literally embarrassed when the defense lawyer caught him many times
contradicting his own statements one after another.
Source www.dekialula.com
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