The Federal Attorney for Criminal Cases has charged two lawyers with forging court decisions and improper rulings in a bribery matter. The charges relate to a dispute over an 84 million birr coffee farm. The indictment was filed in Addis Ababa's Federal High Court.
Addis Ababa, March 17, 2018 EC (Fana) - The Federal Attorney for Criminal Cases at the Ministry of Justice has indicted lawyers Jonas Derb Abate and Asnaqech Hagos Gebremedhin under Criminal Code Article 32(1) and Proclamation 881/2007 Article 23(3). The charges were registered on Megabit 30, 2018, in the 6th Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court's Cassation Division.
According to the indictment, the accused defense lawyers allegedly forged decisions purportedly from the Supreme Court bench to favor the second accused in a coffee farm dispute valued at 84 million birr. They are said to have fabricated a ruling dated Meskerem 22, 2018, attributed to seven judges, ordering the handover of the plantation to the claimant. This included a fake registry number mimicking Supreme Court authority and instructions for lower courts to enforce it.
Further, the prosecutor highlights a forged letter dated Tikimt 21, 2018, from the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Regional Trade and Investment Bureau. The lawyers allegedly used a registry number to prepare documents for the Federal High Court Cassation Division's extraordinary bench, special six-judge panel, and business and investment division. The Federal Attorney accuses them of bribery through these falsified documents.