A DC Church files $1 million lawsuit against three Ethiopians

The Washington DC Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church’s board has filed $1 million lawsuit against three Ethiopians.

The board is accusing the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Idir officials of stealing $300,000.

In a Washington DC court on July 30, the Idir officials Ato Seyoum Garedew, Ato Tadele Gebre-Wold and Ato Solomon Bedasso, told the judge that not a penny was moved from the account and that the board is harassing them for trying to give the Idir legal status, which it never had.

The Idir officials also believe that the Kidist Mariam board, which has recently put the church under the Woyanne patriarch, Aba Gebremedhin, is using a lawsuit as a pretext to take over the 400-member strong Idir (self-help group).

The Church’s board members include Dr Almaz Zewde, a close friend of Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew and a member of his splinter Kinijit group.

The three Ethiopians who were dragged to court by the Church’s $300/hour attorney are highly respected members of the Church, and have been serving the Idir for the past 7 years without any glitch or controversy. The only time a controversy arose when the Church’s Board illegally withdrew $47,000 from the Idir’s account last year without the approval of the Idir’s officials. The Board quickly returned the money after being confronted by the Idir’s chairman, Ato Seyoum Garedew. The Board said that it was a mistake, and the Idir officials left it alone, but started to closely monitor the account. Since then every thing was going smoothly until last month when the Board started to take measures to bring the Idir under its full control, which is in line with Woyanne’s modus operandi of controlling and dominating every thing with what ever means… – detailed reports will be posted shortly