Twenty-six people are under arrest over the discovery of 90 kg of fake (falsk) gold in the vaults of Ethiopia’s central bank, a senior official says according to BBC online Wednesday.
The fraud was discovered after some of the supposed gold was sent to South Africa, where it was found to be gold-plated steel.
Ethiopias Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating the case for three months along with Ethiopian police and intelligence officials. Around 26 are under arrest – seven from the national bank of Ethiopia, four from the Ethiopian Geological Survey and 15 businessmen and their collaborators have been arrested.
The value of the missing gold was around 158 million Ethiopian birr (16 million US dollar) for just one of the missing cases, a spokesman said, adding this was a huge amount for a poor country such as Ethiopia.
Although this is the most dramatic case that the anti-corruption commission has had to deal with, it is not actually the biggest. That was a case involving corrupt tendering and procurement at the State Telecommunications Corporation.
The first fake gold to be found was part of a consignment of 90kg bought from a local businessman. As well as this case, at least one other is likely to follow, this time involving a further 38 kg of fake gold.
This was gold which should have been safely locked in the vaults for the past five years, raising the possibility that it had been tampered with while it was inside the central bank.
