To: The International Bankers Association
From: Ethiopian Bankers

Dear Fellow Bankers!

Greetings! We are sending this letter to your association to bring the plight of our fellow bankers here, to your attention and hopefully enlist your support in our struggle to secure our God-given right to freedom. They are bankers who have served in the top management of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) the largest and government owned bank in Ethiopia. Since May 2001 over fifty Bank officers including the president and all of the Senior Bank personnel were arrested by the government. On the same day, senior politicians, government officials and business people numbering over thirty were also imprisoned.

The mass arrest was precipitated by the major political rift among the ruling party leaders. The major political difference which was simmering behind closed doors for more than a year came out in the open. Shortly thereafter, some twelve members (out of a total of thirty) of the Central Committee of the ruling party and top government officials were dismissed. It is apparent that the perceived leadership of this faction was the real target of the mass arrest. The others were included merely to justify the move against the protagonist. The charges leveled against all those imprisoned was under the banner of anti-corruption campaign, a rather fashionable term of the day and ironically sponsored by the World Bank group.

Although the charges against the accused are similar, we shall outline only the case of the Bankers. The primary allegation is related to the granting of loans; lending without or with inadequate collateral, extending loan amounts in excess of the borrower's capital (to trading companies), allowing prominent customers to overdraw their accounts, etc. Despite these charges it should be noted that:-

a)procedures followed in approving all cases of loans were in compliance with the established policy and practices of the Bank.

b)all loans under consideration were either paid out or performing satisfactorily at the time of the arrest.

The Bank is examined by the Central Bank, the regulatory body, and is annually audited by external auditors. At no time has the Bank been cited for infraction of policies and procedures by any professional body or bank examiners. In fact, as recently reported by the reputed auditing firm Ernst & Young, the Bank was improving its operations, registering successive all time high profits and strengthening its capital base. It was attracting and recruiting high caliber managers and providing state-of-the-art training programs. It was abundantly clear that the Bank was in the best financial condition ever at the time when the Government unleashed the unwarranted political and social persecution.

Since the mass arrest, the banking industry in Ethiopia has come to a stand-still. Business activity in the whole country is currently in a state of shock. Business people are not borrowing;nor are bankers lending for fear of being charged with corruption. Lack of funds have forced businesses to operate under their capacity which in turn has caused non performing loans to swell above 50%. Hence, financial calamity is in the horizon.

The legal bases for the arrest are at best suspicious. The so called Anti-Corruption Proclamation was passed a day before the mass arrest. The special proclamation denying bail to the corruption suspects became law a day after one of the leaders (politician) of the dissident faction was released by a non-suspecting judge. Despite the judge's order police did not release the person. When he latter appeared in court (the supreme court) his plea for bail was denied as the new law was enforced thereafter. Incidentally, the judge who ordered the release of the suspect on bail was sacked. These laws were tailor-made to serve the Government's interest to put opponents behind bars. They contravene the constitution which grants bail right to those accused in similar circumstances. It is clear that there is not legal ground whatsoever to keep the suspects in jail by denying bail rights. This does not come as a surprise to us as the Executive, through loyal party members, totally controls the legislative (98%) and the judiciary as well.

We are sure that for most of you, the whole saga of judicial miscarriage sounds strange. That, for instance, no charges were filed until eight months of the arrest, and nine months after the initial filing of charges no decision has been made; nor was any evidence presented to the court against the suspects. Almost seventeen months in pathetic situation in jail, no court ruling or sentencing or even a trial date fixed. Our friends are still languishing in prison. The constitution entitling citizens to a speedy trial has lost its meaning and the government and the court have turned deaf ears to their case. This is, of course a bad precedent; today is Ethiopia, tomorrow will be other developing countries.

Although we trust that you are sympathetic to our appeal, we are cognizant of the fact that this matter is beyond your jurisdiction. But we believe that you can do something to bring pressure on our government to adhere to the constitution and for justice to prevail by expressing your concern based on our professional affinity. We also know that you can apply pressure through the IMF and World Bank for they are paymasters of the campaign and the regime. What we demand is for the government to respect its own constitution and release the detainees immediately on bail. Subsequent to this, we want speedy trial as guaranteed by the constitution.
Fellow Bankers! To this effect, we request that you write a letter to the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, expressing your concern about our case. It may also be useful to direct similar letters to International Human Rights Organizations as you deem appropriate. But most importantly we request that you bring this issue to the attention of all Bankers everywhere, the IMF and World Bank included.

We are confident that our friends shall be acquitted by any independent court as we are proud of our service to the Bank. The financial results of the Bank speak for themselves. We believe, they must not be held pawn to political differences among the members of the ruling party. We would greatly appreciate your assistance and solidarity in this matter and honestly hope that you will take our request seriously and act on it promptly.

Thank you very much for your help and we trust that your timely compliance to our request will greatly enhance our chance towards freedom.