(Reuters) – Ethiopia’s federal court denied bail on Friday for 27 suspects in a $17 million fake gold scandal at the country’s central bank.
The National Bank of Ethiopia was ordered to check all its gold deposits last week after a consignment of bars shipped to South Africa was found to include gold-plated steel.
“The charge is too complex and involves a number of people in a criminal case that requires more time to investigate,” the court in Addis Ababa said in its ruling.
“We have decided the suspects should remain in custody for a further 15 days. The case is adjourned until April 7.”
The accused, who include 11 bank employees, were brought to the courtroom by armed police.
The other suspects are workers from the Geological Survey of Ethiopia, which was meant to test and certify the gold deposits, and businessmen thought to have profited from the scam. They are all charged with causing a $17 million loss to the bank.
Thousands of artisanal miners in south and southeast Ethiopia extract alluvial gold, which is supposed to be checked by the Geological Survey before it is sold to the National Bank. (Writing by Daniel Wallis)
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FORUM | 10 Comments
Is that mean Meles and his stooges (including wife) going to prison too!
[Reply]
March 21st, 2008 at 7:43 PM
As long as Meles and Co. have the dream to create an independent great Tigrai, as long as Weyanne is in power, Ethopia and ethiopians are going to get robbedand their wealth transfered to Tigrai. So if we want to find the real gold we should look in Mekele. It looks like conspiracy to me.
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March 21st, 2008 at 9:43 PM
The federal court justices are in dillema Like me: to misjudge(concealing the fact of the high-power government official’s involvement) or to be arrested with their immunity and tortured.
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March 22nd, 2008 at 5:06 AM
“yeleba ayne derek meless(o)lib yadriq”.
I think this say of tradition sums it up!!!!
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March 22nd, 2008 at 11:02 AM
TPLF agents are the key players in gold-mining as well as in the Central Bank of Ethiopia. There is no serious business that goes unnoticed or uncontrolled by the core TPLF, let alone a transaction that is as high as $17 million. The core businessmen involved in gold-trading are also one way or the other linked to the TPLF core. Thus, this accusation is just another form of internal war within the TPLF-dominated regime. In short, 27 or so TPLF agents or their hired-agents will be down in this case. “Dog eat dog world”. They are collection of corrupts and thieves. And they are proving themselves to be foolish thieves at that-taking fake-gold all the way to South Africa.
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March 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 PM
በብሄራዊ ባንክ ወርቅ ና ብሮች ማከማቻ ቦታ ለአንድ ሳምንት ያህል ለስራ እመላለስ ነበር:: የተከማቸውን ወርቅ ቆጠራ (ኢንቬንተሪ) ለማድረግ:: ቦታው ምድር ቤት 3 ዎደታች ወርዶ ሲሆን የባንኩ ተራ የጥበቃ ሰራተኞች በ መጀመሪያው የ ታችኛው ፍሉር ላይ ከተሰናበትን ቦሃላ የተቀሩት ሁለት ፍሉር ጥበቃዎች የአንድ ብሄር ሰዎች ነበሩ:: ሆኖም ሌላው ታማኝ አይደለም:: ከዝያ ቦሃላ ወርቁ ቦታ ድረስ ታማኝ ታጋዮች ብቻ ነበሩ:: ለማንኛዉም አንድ ትልቅ ጆክ:- እንድ የ ወርቅ ባር ከ 430 እስከ 520 ግራም ይመዝናል:: እንደየ አቅራቢዎቹ ሞልድ ይለያያል:: የዚህን መጠን ያለዉ ከ ብረት የተሰራ ነገር ቢያንስ ወርቅ አለመሆኑን ማንም ሰው በቀላሉ ይለያል:: በዴንስቲዉ::
[Reply]
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 PM
my question is,why did they send untill south farica these idiots and shameless ppl? who could be behind this robery except tegeres? ethiopia’s national bank gold was their last decstnation.
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March 24th, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Ask Sibhat Nega and co.
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March 24th, 2008 at 5:05 PM
the Ethiopian election board president is the judge of these guys. he is also one of the man in the scandal. how on earth he will put his ass on fire.
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March 24th, 2008 at 7:28 PM
tiyite rasua meta rasua techohalech. the gold is being stolen by TPLF. why do they arrest other ethiopians?
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March 25th, 2008 at 5:19 PM