Leaked: Let’s go back 17 years | by Hadush Kassu

Let’s go back 17 years.

by Hadush Kassu | Director General at Federal Government Communication Affairs Office of Ethiopia

Debretsion was second in command to then Intelligence Chief Kinfe Gebremedhin. He was also his close confidant who knew about Kinfe’s offshore account where he had kept large sums of money siphoned off from public coffers.

When Kinfe was assasinated, Debretsion tried to find a way to transfer these funds from Kinfe’s account in National Westminister Bank, UK, to his own without the knowledge of Kinfe’s son, Leul.

However, a Malaysia based consultant advised him that the only viable course of action to get the funds is to ask the bank to transfer the money to Kinfe’s son and ‘collect it from him.’ He was also advised to withhold information from the bank about where the money would end up.

Whether he succeeded or not is a different matter but their exchanges (including others) show Debretsion tried to hoodwink Kinfe’s family and transfer the funds directly to his own account. Most importantly this is evidence that TPLF officials have offshore accounts where they keep money stolen from the Ethiopian people. The money belongs neither to Kinfe’s son nor to Debretsion.

Kylian Mbappe