Prosecutors brought two additional but separate corruption charges against Kinfe Dagnew (Maj. Gen), former head of the Metals & Engineering Corporation (MetEC), last week.

The latest charges were filed against 22 other co-defendants and Kinfe, raising the total number of charges against Kinfe to three. The new allegations are on the illegal procurements of two shipping vessels, two hotels and a plastics factory that brought the loss value of the accusations to 747 million Br.

In their charge, the prosecutors alleged Kinfe ordered and approved the procurements illegally without proper bidding processes with the intent to gain undue advantage, contravening his duties and abusing his powers.

A week ahead of the new charges, Kinfe and seven other co-defendants were charged for allegedly making improper procurements for tractors and spare parts valued at 6.5 billion Br. The prosecutors claim that the tractors were procured for Adama Agricultural Machinery Industry without following proper procurement procedures.

One of the latest charges was filed on January 14, 2019, at the Federal High Court 15th Criminal Bench involving three counts and 14 defendants. Four former deputy CEOs of MetEC - Tena Kurundi (Bir Gen), Mulu WoldeGebriael (Col), Berhe Wolde-Michael (Col) and Tekeste Hailemariam (Col) - are included in the charge.

The defendants are charged with causing 544.7 million Br worth of losses in the procurement and mismanagement of Abay Wenze and Abiyot, two shipping vessels procured from the Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Enterprise.

According to the charges, the Corporation acquired the vessels to be used as scrap metal for 60.7 million Br in 2012. However, MetEC renovated them and placed them in commercial service for five years, in violation of the Corporation's mandate, according to the prosecutors.

It is alleged that MetEC invested 544.7 million Br in the vessels and then outsourced them to different foreign companies that mismanaged them, according to the second count of the charge.

The third count is related to the 2017 illegal sale of the two ships to Apex International Shipping LLC, a Dubai-based company, without a proper bidding process.

The three judges - Bula Wagari, Anteneh Getachew and Seifu Kebede - adjourned the case to January 25, 2019, to receive the statements of defence.

A day after the first charge was filed, the prosecutors brought another two charges against Kinfe and 11 defendants. The filings that a no-bid contract valued at 200 million Br was executed for Rivera and Imperial hotels and a plastics factory. According to the charges these three entities were purchased without a proper bidding process, planning and market analysis.

Procurement of the Rivera Hotel and PVC Profile Factory from Alem Fistum, managing director of Alem Genet Steel Factory, for 128 million Br in 2012 is the first count in the second charge. Prosecutors allege that Kinfe, Alem and the other co-defendants improperly caused the Corporation to pay capital gains tax for the properties, while the seller should have been the proper party to pay the taxes.