ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of detained senior Ethiopian government officials, businessperson and middlemen, who were arrested in connection with an alleged large-scale corruption scandal, has increased to 55 on Friday.
Ethiopian roads authority Communications Director, Samson Wondimu, is the latest Ethiopian government official detained on Friday in connection with the large scale anti-corruption investigation in Ethiopia's modern history.
While the number of suspected government officials and their associates could still rise as the investigation is still underway in the east African country, investigators have on Thursday frozen the assets of 210 individuals and 15 companies that have link with the recently arrested individuals.
Majority of the 54 defendants have so far appeared before and Ethiopian court, including the former Manager of Addis Ababa Roads Authority, Fekade Haile, former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, Alemayehu Gujo, and former head of Ethiopian Roads Authority Zayid WoldeGebrel.
Other senior government officials from the Ethiopian Roads Authority, the Addis Ababa Roads Authority, the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation and foreign nationals were also arrested as part of the large-scale corruption scandal.
The Ethiopian government has cited bad governance and corruption as among the major reasons for the preoccupations of the public back in late 2016.
The ongoing arrest of senior government officials, businessperson and middlemen is said to be part of the Ethiopian government's reform process, which was started at the end of 2016 to provide a concrete answer to the preoccupations of the public.
