Date: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Mahlet Fasil
Addis Abeba, January 23/2019 – The police have arrested founding member of the ruling EPRDF and veteran politician Bereket Simon, and former TIRET Corporate CEO, Tadesse Kassa, A.K.A. Tinkishu, the Amhara Mass Media Agency reported.
They are detained on suspicion of wasting public money when both were running TIRET Corporate, a conglomerate owned by the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP).
On August 24, ADP suspended both from its central committee membership and said they were being investigated for inappropriate conducts in running TIRET.
Ethiopia’s former Communication Minister, Bereket Simon, has been arrested by the federal government at his residence in the capital, Addis Ababa, multiple news sources, state and private, have reported.
Simon is also a founding member of the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, EPRDF. Multiple local mdia channels are reporting that his arrest is in connection with corruption.
Another arrested official is Tadesse Kassa, a former top civil servant. Simon was a member of the Amhara regional bloc in the EPRDF.
His party, now the Amhara Democratic Party ousted him from executive committee membership.
Bereket resigned his position in government in October 2017 at the time as an advisor in charge of Policy Studies and Research to ex Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Later in December, the state-affiliated FBC reported that Bereket like then Parliament Speaker Abadula Gemeda, had rescinded their resignations. He eventually exited after Abiy came to power in April 2017.
