By Yilma bekele
The news regarding the Gold brick scam from Ethiopia is both comical and sad. It is not desirable to be held up for shame and ridicule by the whole freaking planet. It is just another insult to our fragile ego. Go ahead and pile it on. Can we do something right for a change? The only positive news coming out of our homeland is ‘Lucy’. That does not count. It is just too old. In a two weeks time span the UN declared over 9 million Ethiopians are in need of food aid, there is going to be a power shortage for the next 3 months or more, there is water shortage, we are facing grain and beef shortage, the invasion of Somalia is turning ugly, inflation is hitting double digits and the repression is hitting a brick wall of indifference. Nation gone wild!
When you think you have seen it all, out of the blue the minority regime strikes again. The latest incident is humiliating to the maximum. Apparently the TPLF cadre led Régime ruling over Ethiopia has found itself to be at the other end of its natural state. It had been in the giving end up until now. This time TPLF was the receiver. Therefore condolences are in order. In 2006 and 2007 the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) bought 529 KG of gold from some dummy company and transferred $200,000,000.00 Bir (two point two million USD) into the scammers account in Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, which was transferred to a foreign account legally. Unfortunate for NBE out of the 529 KG only 30 KG was gold the rest being lead!
After you get over your initial shock you start to ask. How did this happen? It is conceivable that individuals are sometimes victims of con artists. But how in the world do you con a government? According to Wiki ‘Confidence tricksters often rely on the greed and dishonesty of the mark, who may attempt to out-cheat the con artist, only to discover that he or she has been manipulated into losing from the very beginning. This is such a general principle in confidence tricks that there is a saying among con men that “you can’t cheat an honest man.
It makes sense. Greed and dishonesty are the hallmark of TPLF administration. In today’s Ethiopia there is no rule of law and there is no place for honesty and service. Life has become one big scam. As the Nation became one big killing field during the Derg era, scam and con are a national virtue these days. The gap between the haves and the have not is very wide. The rich have an appetite that cannot be satisfied. The poor have lost all faith. The government is orchestrating all this with zeal.
There is a price tag on everything. Think of Ikea on a national scale. Everything has a price, and anything is possible. Woyane started by handing our Port to a two-bit dictator as a payment for cadre training. Since then fixing a price tag on Ethiopia has become routine. Even our National Army is for hire (Darfur & Somalia). Our daughters are for rent to Arab degenerates. There is nothing sacred anymore. Even the Abuna is a fan of Beyonce and some hip-hop group from the US was the headline performer during Woyane/Sheik Millennium celebration. Lord has mercy.
A one million Bir house is no big deal; a cow costs five thousand Bir, sheep is three hundred and Chicken is bargain at one hundred fifty. A working class lunch is four Bir while the unemployment is over 40% among the youth, a kilo of coffee goes for 40 Bir, butter costs 75 a kilo and berbere will set you back 90 Bir per kilo. With inflation nearing 40% life is a constant struggle.
Conning their ferenji benefactors is a full time job with the TPLF (ferenji is not fooled, it serves its interest). The Ethiopian people are immune to this. They know their TPLF is one uncultured, uncouth wanna be dictator which should be kept at arms length if at all possible. The less you deal with them the better of you are. Last time the TPLF tried conning the people was the general election of 2005. Oh yes the people said, hold an election and of course we will be there for you. Stupid Woyane bought this. Illiterate peasants out coned them. They were forced to reveal their ugly side. Even their loudest supporters were shamed into silence.
The ‘Diaspora’ is the only victim of Woyane con. Greed is its undoing. Woyane dangles the gift of free land for lease and a very low cost as a come on. Once the initial deposit is made and ‘service quarters’ built the real con starts. Cost overruns, material shortage and inflation doubling the cost of construction is normal. And after all this hurdles are overcome then starts the real problem. A monster of a house with shoddy and sub-par construction using inferior material is ready and waiting. Not so fast my dear ‘Diaspora’ we have this little situation of no water and no electricity here. Of course we are an emerging democracy, you just have to be patience with us, could we have the property tax please, dollars will be fine and please use Wogagen Bank.
So, when I came across the Gold brick scam I did not know what to make of it. On one hand it was a national treasure being looted. On the other hand Woyane has been doing that for the last seventeen years so what is new? And when you consider the very cheap nature of the ruling class the whole thing feels like a setup. It could be a new way of scamming the ferenji for a few more dollars.
No matter, I would love to believe TPLF has been had. Due to the culture of greed and dishonesty they planted and nurtured, even the national treasure is fair game. It is a shame everyone talks as if it is Woyane’s gold. Well sort of true since NBE and everything else flows outward from the Prime Minster’s office. In Ethiopia micro management is taken to an insane level. One head is better than two is the guiding principle. The NBE director reports directly to the PM. The PM is ultimately responsible for the actions of NBE. Is this a leadership failure or not? In most Parliamentary Democracies the leader of the party is accountable to such colossal disaster. As they say in any system based on accountability, heads will roll. The only head rolling in Ethiopia is some hapless low-level operators left as sacrificial lamb.
TPLF is shell-shocked. They are discussing which enemy to pin it on. Is it the Opposition or Shabia, OLF or the Diaspora? They can always blame it on one of their inner circle that is in disfavor. My advice to TPLF is get used to it. We are entering an un-chartered territory now. With the Somali invasion a disaster, hyperinflation around the corner, HR2003 marching forward the balance is shifting. We saw Kenya. Zimbabwe is another lesson in the making. We are sure of one thing. The last days are always full of drama. Get used to being on the receiving end my dear Woyane.
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The writer can be reached at [email protected]
5 thoughts on “The gold brick scam: conning the conman”
Thanks for this informing article.
Would you please correct your conversion of birr to $?(200,000,000.00 birr = 20.2 Million $ not 2.2 Million)
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/2290
Thank you Ato Yilma and thank you ER. explains perfectly the nature of Woyane thugs. By the way it $22 Million US dollars. Good job.
I think if we are brave enough to hold on to our checkbook and withhold investing or even supporting back home for sometime, I believe wayane will starve to death of any real growth, the reason I said this is any movement or growth you see back home is only in areas there is some one from ‘diaspora’financing it or financed. (not counting the woyane financed projects because the money used for that was not earned)
Thank you Yilma,
You’ve put it TPLF/EPRDFITES states of affairs what it is and worth. The only enemy Ethiopia has, has taken over Its palace,in the form of invasion-infestation and what we see is the chronic stage that is taking toll on lives, economy the whole nation. The way out of such massive invasion-infestation is not by investing into chronic disease these thugs spreading. We who are outside of Ethiopia are not “diasporas” as alleged, instead we are a few very fortunate Ethiopians. We live a lot better life than prime monster himself. Yes, we do not have killer agazies, we need not a single of, we live free. We don’t need to cone no one, we can work abundantly and earn limitless incomes, for we live in friest part of the world.
We don’t have to carry guns to kill all the way to government office to call ourselves prime monsters, we use ballots to become one. Our states of affairs is a light years away from the TPLF/ ADWA boys.
What hurts Ethiopians is the facts their birthplace is infested-invaded by qoraliye carrying thugs who continue draining our families to unconcievable desparation of biblical proportions. We, the FORTUNATES need to talk to help our people 24/7 to disinfect Ethiopia from massive parasitic infestation by the germs called TPLF. TPLF is a chronic parasite, that is eating in out the core fiber of ETHIOPIA, in a way very soon the whole country may die of it!
Ferenjis are getting to know who real Woyannes are, one ferenji I know the other day mentioned to me his whole oparing deposit was emptied out on him by the person who heads his project in Ethiopia. That may be the start of the woyanne rule of law coming to lights as unsuspecting Ferenjis pour money over there. For us, me better be wiser in investing in woyanne economy that is based on “Tigre Eskitlema Ethiopia Tedima”. A famous loaded phrase we all keenly know it. The Goal of Fortunate Ethiopians must be Parasite Eskitefa Genzebe Aylifa. Invest on our education, home, and what left to our falks in a direct assistance only.
Lord have mercy!
I would like to ask where do other international banking institutes and countries keep their bullions? If I am not mistaken the place to keep the gold reserve would be in a bank but some countries have created safe places for their gold reserves. For example one of the most secured place in the USA is where they keep their reserve in the middle of the country. It is a place where anybody could not come in or go out as he wishes. It is secured by tanks and heavily armored vehicles. I would guess also the authenticity inspections and gold standardization before accepting any new inventory might one of the bests in the world. There must be a good security protection of the asset of the nation. I also think may be most countries and rich men and organizations send their money and gold to Swiss Bank and it is most probably be the best as the one in the USA in protecting the Bullions. So we have to improve the securities of our banks in the country
by emulating those institutions.
Also if the persons in charge of the institutes of banking are not loyal to the nation or they are more loyal to groups of political people anything could happen as the groups control over the economy tightens.
A person who becomes the head of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia must be someone who has proven his personal integrities and loyalties to his nation and the people of Ethiopia. If a person comes to this power without loyalties to his people the bank will be at a great and shameful jeopardy. That might have been what took place in the past several years.
This one is a great lesson to every body including the government of Ethiopia. I am wondering what will be
the repercussions at local and international financial institutes against the National Bank of Ethiopia?
What would the Ethiopians business men /women think about their treasured treasury center?
I feel the government did not make sure its reserves were well protected and did not assign responsible people to really take the matter seriously. From what I have read on the international and local news from Ethiopia, there had been a poor security environment at the central bank of Ethiopia. This is what had resulted in a national shame and a loss of millions of dollars.
I know for sure when gold is transported from the south to Addis Ababa it is merely secured by single or two police cars and which may not have been enough to stop the smart people from stealing gold for many years. The only thing that I heard of was that it was very difficult to steal gold from mining area of Doodolaa when someone works as a laborer. Otherwise the protection of gold from southern Oromia to central Oromia has been a joke. This could be a tale-tale sign for losing so much gold from the national bank of Ethiopia.
I suggest for any body or any government in the future to tighten their securities at the national bank and during transportation of gold from goldmines to the central bank. Is it not funny to hear from a poorest nation in the world; her loss of gold reserves to sleek thief out of country’s police institution? Inconceivably and astonishingly incredible.
sabataa Dubbii