Addis Ababa, July 13, 2022 (Walta) – Ethiopia’s long-serving Commissioner of Disaster Risk Management Commission, Mitiku Kassa, was arrested due to suspected act of corruption today.
According to the Ethiopian Federal Police, the commissioner was arrested following a prolonged follow-up aid embezzlement.
The Assistant Commissioner of the Corruption Investigation Unit at the Federal Police Criminal Investigation Department, Tadesse Ayalew, told Ethiopia’s state broadcaster, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, that the commissioner was arrested on suspicion of corruption charges.
The Assistant Commissioner said that the investigation unit has been following the case for quite a long time.
Police suspected the commissioner of conspiring with the head of a local NGO called Elshadia Relief and Development.
Federal police suspected the commissioner of approving repeated food aid and clothing deliveries to the outpost stations of the charity organization that does not shelter any known aid recipient.
The charity organization’s outpost stations engaged in illegal activity includes Awash in the Afar Regional State, Adama in Oromiya Regional State, Hawasa in Sidama Regional State, and Enjibara in Amhara Regional State.
Federal Police alleges the commissioner has approved repeated aid deliveries for nonexistent aid recipients in the outpost station of the implied NGO while the proceeds of the illegal activities were used to buy a residential house for the suspect.
The commission was entrusted with the overall management of aid operations throughout Ethiopia.