Five individuals face charges from Ethiopia's Federal Anti-Corruption Commission for fraudulently receiving over 6 million birr in a digital land certificate issuance scam at Addis Ababa Land Development Bureau. The charges under Article 4 were filed at the Federal High Court Lideta Division 5.
Addis Ababa, March 25, 2026 - Ethiopia's Federal Anti-Corruption Commission has charged five individuals with serious corruption offenses for receiving over 6 million birr through fraudulent documents related to digital land certificate issuance at the Addis Ababa Land Development and Administration Bureau. The accused are Dawit Mengistu, Samuel Kidane, Tomas Manaye, Tsion Abera, and Mikael Awla. The charges, based on Article 4 of the Corruption Crimes Directive, were presented at the Federal High Court Lideta Division 5. According to the indictment, Dawit Mengistu issued a digital card for his own 3,825 square meter plot in Yekatit 13, Kebele 13, Woreda 12, in 2017 E.C., and demanded bribes from bureau officials under the pretext of required fees. Other accused, including bureau employees, colluded to prematurely process cards for private investors and solicited payments. They used a fake Twitter account named 'Mekonen Yaya' and transferred a total of 6,239,946 birr to the fourth and fifth accused. The suspects received a postponement until Megabit 23, 2018 E.C., to prepare their defense.