Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-01 03:40:56|Editor: yanVideo Player CloseADDIS ABABA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A former deputy minister of the Ethiopia Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation and 20 others were charged with corruption offenses before the Ethiopia Federal High Court in Addis Ababa on Saturday. The 21 defendants are accused of swindling the Ethiopian government millions of U.S. dollars in fraudulent tender bids, illegal payments to brokers and transferring illicit money to private accounts. The court adjourned the case to October 15 to decide on the defendants' request for bail. The Ethiopian Government has indicated that the large-scale anti-corruption investigation and arrest of high-profile individuals is part of the Ethiopian government's reform agenda, which was started at the end of 2016 following mass protests in various parts of the country. The Ethiopian government has since then stressed bad governance and corruption among the major reasons for the preoccupations of the public that rocked the East African country back in late 2016.

Source: Ethiopian News September 30, 2017 20:15 UTC