Judges at the Federal High Court gave prosecutors 10 days to charge Kinfe Dagnew (Maj. Gen), founding CEO of the state military conglomerate Metals & Engineering Corporation (MetEC), who is suspected of corruption.

Last Monday, the prosecutors received the case from the Federal Police, who have been probing Kinfe, for the past two months. On the same day, police reported to the court that they have concluded their investigations of three of 19 allegations that they suspect Kinfe is allegedly involved in.

The prosecutors also filed a two-page application, which states that they have received a full investigation report against Kinfe, who served the Corporation for eight years until he resigned last April.

The investigation reports are accusations against Kinfe, who allegedly ordered and approved the procurements of two shipping vessels, Rivera Hotel, a PVC manufacturing company and Imperial Hotel. Prosecutors stated that the police investigative report shows that Kinfe has allegedly caused the loss of 852 million Br of public money by "illegal procurements".

The first accusation against Kinfe is causing a 545 million Br loss in public treasury by ordering employees of the Corporation to procure two shipping vessels from the Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise. The prosecutors claim that, in acquiring the shipping vessels, Kinfe led MetEC to spend unwarranted additional public funds for the repair and maintenance of the vessels and for administrative costs.

Under the second accusation, Kinfe allegedly ordered the procurement of Rivera Hotel and a PVC manufacturing company and caused the Corporation to spend an unnecessary 202.8 million Br on these properties. Contrary to the Corporation's mandate, Kinfe persuaded MetEC to unlawfully procure Imperial Hotel and spend additional funds to maintain this hotel at a total cost of 103.8 million Br, according to the police investigation report.