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High Court Acquittes Former Privatization Director, Co-defedants Finding No Evidence to Proceed to Defense Rebuttal

May 20 , 2026

The former Director General of the Privatization Agency walked out of prison on Monday afternoon, bringing to a close a high-profile corruption case that federal judges found prosecutors had failed to sustain.

Beyene Gebremeskel was released on May 18, 2026, alongside Taye Admasu, former director of Post-privatization Trade & Services, and Hwan Myung Ryu, a South Korean citizen who came to Ethiopia as an investor. Judges at the Federal Court acquitted the three men of charges of corruption federal prosecutors claimed led the state lose 52.5 million Br.

For Beyene and his co-defendants, Monday’s release closed a seven-month detention that ended not with a defense rebuttal, but with the Court’s finding that prosecutors had not proved enough to proceed.

Federal judges ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a case for the defendants to answer, finding that the five documentary exhibits and six witness testimonies presented during the trial were "insufficient to support the charges."

Federal prosecutors charged that Beyene and Taye conspired with Hwan during an investment contract signed for the partial ownership trasfer of Adey Abeba Yarn & Blankets Manufacturing, in Saris neighborhood. Prosecutors had alleged that the agreement defrauded the government by transferring the company to Hwan 15 years ago.

Judges rejected that argument at the prosecution stage, acquitting the defendants without requiring them to enter a defense. The judges concluded that the evidence presented did not meet the threshold needed to continue with the corruption charges.

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