{"id":3964,"date":"2026-08-06T13:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/?p=3964"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:00:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:00:49","slug":"government-takes-decisive-action-to-tackle-corruption-and-illegality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/2026\/08\/06\/government-takes-decisive-action-to-tackle-corruption-and-illegality\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Takes Decisive Action to Tackle Corruption and Illegality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>August 6, 2026 <em>(Hamle 30, 2018 E.C.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FDRE Government Communication Service<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia announced that it is taking uncompromising measures against actors attempting to disrupt the ongoing comprehensive macroeconomic reforms and plunder national resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a press briefing delivered today, the Minister of the FDRE Government Communication Service, Mrs. Enatalem Melese, highlighted that extensive work has been undertaken over recent years to ensure rapid growth and development, yielding impressive national milestones. However, she emphasized that this journey was far from smooth. Beyond various domestic and global challenges, widespread illegality and corrupt practices have remained major hurdles to the country\u2019s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minister explained that the problem of illegality is not confined to a single sector, but involves diverse segments of society, driven by coordinated networks operating both domestically and internationally. These organized practices have been visibly embedded within the business community, public enterprises, government structures, private individuals, and service seekers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;These entities infiltrated the financial and commercial systems to commit severe economic sabotage aimed at destabilizing the home-grown economic reform,&#8221; stated Mrs. Enatalem. She noted that these actions led to foreign exchange shortages, exacerbated inflation and contraband trade, and created artificial shortages of essential consumer goods. Through extensive operations conducted by the government and relevant law enforcement agencies, these organized sabotage efforts were successfully thwarted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, Mrs. Enatalem affirmed that the government remains firmly committed to purging corrupt elements embedded within public service agencies, administrative bodies, and public institutions. Uncompromising actions have been taken against officials, interest networks, and enterprises involved in massive embezzlement of public funds and institutional sabotage. Thorough investigations were carried out, establishing accountability across several key sectors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Direct law enforcement operations aimed at correcting major corruption and sabotage offenses within public service, administrative, and development sectors have produced tangible results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Macroeconomic Reform Protections: Warnings were issued to the owners of 13 supplier organizations that deliberately hoarded basic consumer goods to trigger artificial shortages and price hikes. Additionally, over 7,000 business establishments and warehouses engaging in illegal activities were sealed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Financial Institutions and Currency Transactions: Legal action was taken against 169 Ethiopian and foreign nationals participating in illicit money transfers, hawala, and black-market currency trading. Furthermore, 36 individuals who systematically defrauded money from Commercial Bank of Ethiopia customer accounts were arrested, and their bank accounts were frozen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Digital and Export Controls: Seven cryptocurrency applications that provided cover for illegal transactions were completely blocked from operating in the country. Legal accountability was also enforced against 29 export companies and individuals who failed to repatriate foreign currency earnings after exporting goods.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Betting and Fintech Businesses: Actions were taken against 38 betting enterprises that concealed customer data to evade taxes, hide revenue, and conduct illicit financial flows. Their owners were taken into custody, and the bank accounts of these illegal institutions were frozen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mining Sector Contraband: A total of 183 individuals\u2014including government officials, security sector leaders, producers, and foreign nationals\u2014were held accountable for smuggling gold out of the legal market. Foreign nationals involved in the crimes were deported, while illegal gold, scales, melting equipment, various foreign currencies, and firearms were seized.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fuel Supply and Logistics: Legal proceedings were initiated against 38 government officials involved in creating fraudulent cover letters, hoarding fuel, and engaging in phantom &#8220;air-to-air&#8221; transactions. Nationwide, action was also taken against over 650 individuals, gas stations, and supplier companies participating in illegal fuel trade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fertilizer Procurement Sabotage: Criminal charges were brought against Ministry of Agriculture officials who intentionally created conflicts of interest to procure low-quality and expired agricultural fertilizers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP): Four senior executives were held accountable for executing unauthorized power sale contracts with 36 data-mining companies in the absence of proper regulatory directives. Companies and individuals committing electricity theft were similarly brought to justice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ministry of Labor and Human Trafficking: Eight senior officials and employees involved in distorting the overseas employment system and accepting bribes were taken into custody. Additionally, 44 brokers and traffickers operating illegal human smuggling rings were arrested, and entities operating under illegal licenses were completely shut down.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Revenue and Customs Sector: Operations targeted individuals who caused significant revenue losses to the state by lowering tax assessments, processing fraudulent invoices, and deleting system data. Out of 109 identified suspects who funneled illicit gains through personal, relative, and driver bank accounts, 91 individuals have been arrested.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minister reaffirmed that the government is confronting corruption and theft with the same unwavering resolve it applies to any major national challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Concluding her statement, Mrs. Enatalem emphasized that the government is fully committed to building a disciplined leadership structure and establishing modern, transparent systems to eradicate theft. To address the public&#8217;s urgent demands to &#8220;stop corruption,&#8221; she called upon citizens to fulfill their historic responsibility by exposing corrupt acts, refusing to pay bribes, rejecting collusion with illegal actors, and standing firmly alongside the government to protect the nation from corruption and illegality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/image-22-1024x650.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3965\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/image-22-1024x650.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/image-22-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/image-22-768x488.png 768w, https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/image-22.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 6, 2026 (Hamle 30, 2018 E.C.) FDRE Government Communication Service The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia announced that it is taking uncompromising measures against actors attempting to disrupt the ongoing comprehensive macroeconomic reforms and plunder national resources. In a press briefing delivered today, the Minister of the FDRE Government Communication Service,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news_en","category-press_release_en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3967,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions\/3967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcs.gov.et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}