To: THE WORLD BANK
THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

From: Concerned Ethiopians

Dear Mr. President, Directors, Officers and Governors

The twin names of your towering institutes inspire different feelings and emotions in different sections of society. But one definite truth that's shared by everybody familiar with them is that they never stand for corruption, dictatorship or despotism. It may not always be true that the Bretton Woods Institutes stand for justice and fairness, but it has never been the case that they stand for injustice and unfairness. Especially nowadays, they are actually getting deeply involved in the domains of good governance through what are customarily being called civic reform programmes, coupled with the traditional economic reform programmes.

This coupling between the two programmes, is among the few most encouraging developments of our times, especially for many reform minded people in the developing world. They are so because; by linking economic reform with civic reform, they ensure fair distribution of benefits; and hence the sustainability and continuity of economic growth and development. This in turn will feed into peace, enrichment and the total freedom of citizens.

As most of you are very well aware; focused programmes like the privatization programme and the anti-corruption programme are designed and implemented in various countries, within the broader framework of economic and civic reform packages. In almost all cases, such programmes are sponsored and closely monitored by your institutes; and ofcourse for a good and worthy cause.

So much so, it has almost become impossible now, to qualify for any assistance from anywhere including your selves, without presenting status reports on a privatization programme and an anti-corruption campaign. Although the two programms technically belong to differing generations and are usually monitored and sponsored by differing institutes or departments (the one by the IMF and the latter usually by the World Bank) it has become possible that the latter programme begins while the former was still in its earlier phases of implementation. The so called "anti-corruption" campaign being currently waged by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, has actually killed not only the Ethiopian Privatization Programme, but also completely wiped all benefits and achievements gained through the ten-year old Economic Reform Programme.

In order to suppress political dissent within his party and also to settle his personal grudges against the faction leader Seeye Abraha, Prime Minister Meles enacted his infamous ant-corruption laws on May 24/2001. On May 29/2001 that is one working day (four calendar days later), he arrested Ato Seeye, five of his family members, a dozen of business people and executives of the state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). This was done without any court orders and by the personal orders of the Prime Minister himself. Ato Assefa Abraha the brother of Ato Seeye and the Board Chairman of the Ethiopian Privatization Agency (EPA) was also arrested along with his other brothers and his sister.

When they appeared at court a few days later, the prosecutor had nothing to present in the form of charges, while he publicly admitted that the instruction to arrest these people came from the office of the Prime Minister. Having no reason to keep these people in jail, the courts then began releasing some of them on bail. Subsequently Ato Seeye was also released on bail. When the police officer refused to obey to the orders of the judges to release Ato Seeye, the court declared Ato Seeye released, right away from the courtroom. Nevertheless, Ato Seeye was again arrested by the bodyguards of the Prime Minister himself, a few blocks away from the court. The next morning Ato Meles, through his docile parliament enacted a new law that denies the right to bail to people suspected of corruption.

It has been almost 16 months since Ato Seeye, his family members including Ato Assefa, the business people, the bank executives, etc. have been languishing in the pathetic jails of Ato Meles. Despite the relentless efforts, to dig and find crimes against these people efforts that involved mobilizing an army of "auditors", "inspectors", "valuers", and many special task forces. It took six months for the government to come out with what it called charges. Until now not a single file has passed beyond what is called pre-trial hearing.

For the sake of brevity, we cannot unfortunately take you through the details of the charges. But we also think it necessary that we briefly touch upon the ones that concern the privatization programme as illustrations to show the essence of the rest.

Subsequent to the agreements entered between the Government of Ethiopia and yourselves, the Ethiopian Privatization Agency was legally proclaimed in February 1994. Nevertheless, creating a properly functioning Agency took more time than expected and hence the Government was unable to fulfill its agreed upon targets with regards to privatization. Failure to qualify for the financial support of your institutes (i.e. the World Bank and the IMF) literally meant total collapse for the government of the then President Meles Zenawi.

In order to avert this danger of collapse by fulfilling the targets and hence ensuring the release of badly needed funds, the President was obliged to directly get involved in the implementation of the programme. He established a series of committees and taskforces, under an Executive Committee that included himself as the Chairman, Ato Tamrat Layne the then Prime Minister and Dr. Kassu Yilala, senior advisor to the President, as members.

Another committee or Board was established at the Agency. Ato Assefa Abraha was assigned to chair this Board, while lawyers, economists, bankers as well as privatization experts employed through the UNDP, were assigned as members. Ato Beshah Azmitie being the General Manager of the Agency, various experts were hand picked by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) from different ministries and assigned into various committees and task forces to work for the Agency. Some prepared tender documents and issued the first public tenders by February 1995, just in time to meet the last deadline set by the IMF. Others worked on the valuation of assets, for comparison with the market prices to come on tender closing. Since the results of the asset valuation will be known just before the opening of tenders, another committee will then make a comparative evaluation of the bids, both among themselves and with the asset valuation results.

Each committee dwelled on the specific tasks assigned to it and finally forwarded its recommendations to a superior committee. The final decision rested in the hands of the three-men Executive Committee at the PMO (i.e. Ato Meles and his Deputies). Recommendations from lower committees were transmitted through formally signed minutes and covering letters. All the recommendations and proposals of the Board at the EPA were, therefore sent to the PMO, through formal letters and signed minutes of the boards' meetings. The PMO then sent back its decisions through a formal letter signed by the head of the PMO and addressed to the EPA.

With slight changes and improvements, especially in the area of personnel, this was the modus operandi employed in the privatization of over 200 enterprises in a span of about five years. In addition to Ato Assefa Abraha, various government officials have served as board members to the EPA. Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed, Justice Minister Mahteme Solomon, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Defense Teffera Walwa, Health Minister Kebede Taddesse, Head of the PMO Mulugeta Alemseged, etc. were among the people who served as board members.

Except for the casting vote, the proclamation bestows no extra powers or duties on the Board Chairman of the EPA. And more importantly most recommendations or decisions, including the ones under litigation now, were made by unanimity or consensus;hence no use for a casting vote. All sales were therefore made by consensus and with the final written approval of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's office.

On May 29/2001, so many years down the line, and a month after the crisis within the ruling party, Ato Assefa Abraha the chairman of the EPA was arrested along with his elder brother Seeye Abraha. Few day later, Ato Beshah Azmitie, the General Manager of the EPA was called in by the police and requested to falsely testify against Ato Assefa Abraha, to which he declined. Failure to "cooperate" meant imprisonment, and hence Ato Beshah joined his colleague in prision.

Out of the 200 or more business people who bought businesses from EPA, two gentlemen were picked for their social relationships with Ato Assefa Abraha. One was Mr. Hrair Behnishilyan, an Armenian-Ethiopian who bought a flourmill seven years ago through a public tender and by the written approval of the PMO. The mill actually was built by his father and then nationalized by the Dergue regime. He is allegedly a friend of Ato Assefa. The other is Ato Fitsumzeab Asgedom. A thriving business man who had established printing interests in Uganda-Kampala, has also been trapped and thrown to jail for buying a printing press and two other businesses through the same tendering process and by the approval of the PMO. Unfortunate for him, he happened to be a brother-in-law of Ato Assefa. They have been charged for "illegally" buying the privatized enterprises and the two public servants for "illegally" selling enterprises.

Since May 2001, these gentlemen are languishing in jail. The EPA has been ransacked by an army of auditors, valuers or task forces looking for any faults that would incriminate, especially Ato Assefa Abraha. During the last two years not a single transaction has been effected; both due to the failure by the Agency to put up tenders and the lack of buyers. Employee morale is at its lowest, due to incessant harassments by the police, the auditors and the like. Although Dr. Kebede Tadesse, an ex-board member has been promoted to chair the board, he seems to have lost interest in the whole affair and hence his failure to call meetings. Investors that previously bought businesses from the Agency, including the Saudi tycoon Sheik Al-Amoudi, seem to be disinterested in the businesses they bought. Some of them are asking to return back the assets, some of them are simply abandoning them, while others have just stopped paying outstanding balances.

We, a group of concerned Ethiopians, are worried by the general state of affairs in our country and the particular situation in and around the EPA. We are also deeply disturbed by the injustice being perpetrated on the four gentlemen who unsuspectingly were trapped by a political conflict that they knew nothing of. The two businessmen have also lost their money, and their businesses have been confiscated by the same government that voluntarily sold the same businesses to them.

We, on behalf of these gentlemen and for the good of the nation, therefore request and appeal to all of you in these marvelous institutes, to do everything in your powers to assist in securing their release from jail. We are perfectly aware that you are capable of influencing decisions in the current government of Ethiopia. We also know that you are the sponsors of the very campaign being used as a camouflage for stifling dissent and punishing dissenters. Assisting in the release of these people is therefore, not only a matter of saving the lives of the victims and their families, but also an issue of conserving the reputation of your institutions and the honours of everyone of you.