Former chairman of Kinijit North America chairman Shaleka Yosef Yazew has abruptly dropped his defamation lawsuit against Kinijit NA auditor and other individuals following a conference with the defendant’s lawyer.
Kinijit North America is a U.S.-based support group of Ethiopia’s major opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit) during the 2005 elections in Ethiopia.
Last week, Shaleka Yosef Yazew and his wife went to Ato Tesfai Asamaw attorney’s office accompanied by their attorney to take a deposition under oath. When it was time to do so, he surprised everyone including his attorney refusing to proceed. Instead, he chose to drop the case and walked away pretending to be sick.
The Shaleka knows that the auditor is a Certified Public Accountant who has done his homework in preparing all the necessary evidences to not only defeat him in court and make him pay for his legal expenses, but also further expose him to the public. It seems that the shaleka’s intention was to settle the case in a face saving way for himself, not to punish the auditor for his alleged defamation.
Ato Tesfai told Ethiopian Review that had the shaleka “continued with the proceeding, it could have put himself in a series legal trouble.”
Shaleka Yoseph had included Ethiopian Review as as accomplice in his initial complaint. He and his blind defenders had repeatedly threatened Ethiopian Review publisher with a lawsuit.
As part of his retreat, the shaleka was asked by Ato Tesfai to go public and ask for forgiveness of his community via any available media.
Ethiopian Review had previously reported that Shaleka Yosef and his cronies had pocked several hundred thousand dollars that belonged to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit). Under his watch, over 2 million dollars that have been collected from Kinijit supporters in the United Sates have been squandered.
When Kinijit chairman Hailu Shawel was released from jail in Ethiopia, he had received a complete report about the corruption of Shaleqa Yoseph. Instead of taking appropriate measures to recover the stolen funds, Ato Hailu chose to try to cover up the massive corruption, which soiled his own name as well. Shaleqa Yoseph’s corruption, and Ato Hailu Shawel’s attempt to cover it up, was the main reason for the split up of the Kinijit top leadership and later the party itself. These two corrupt politicians and their cohorts should never be allowed to hold any public office.
7 thoughts on “Shaleka Yoseph Yazew drops defamation lawsuit”
Elias;
What about the auditors final result and IRS action? It is only for public relation consumption or some thing is going on. Hope, public money is not end like this. Please, try to keep update us on this issue!
Thanks,
I totally agree. No one should trust Shaleqa and Ato Hailu.
ethiopian review .thanks for letting us know the great corruption behind the kinijit leadership spearheaded by hailu shawel and shaleka and there coverups .this thing should not stop here being a public money and the culprit has to be persecuted .this thing has to be pursued and legal fund must be generated and our own lawyers should take charge .the other thing is ER has never discussed the millions dollars BERTA /Habitat has taken as developers and did not finish any since 5 years counting .many of us borrowed money from local banks via refinacing our properties to find resting place for the aged parents and ourselves as well .is this a conspiracy of the government against the diaspora investing in ethiopia .there is no check and balance by the investment office and we are loosing .can we raise the public aWARENESS VIA THE PARTICIPATION OF THE ETHIOPIAN EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON .IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO .
Defamation happen to be a great tool in our society. Business people use it to recruit talented labor cheaply. Government use it to escape responsibility. As a certified public servant I notice this as a common practice. We need to realize this and start applying integrity in our actions.
Elias
I could’t figure out why you are so hard on shaleka yoseph. Woyanne and Al Aamudi are looting Ethiopia in billions. You and others worry for a peanut. Please talk about unity and try to bring all opposition together.
Thank you
Ato Elias Kifle should tell us all the details about this issue by bringing the stories of both sides. The auditor should make his findings public and those who embezzled the money must face justice. Major Yosef should also come forth and tell us his side of the story.
Although, I admire your stance against corruption, I don’t agree with your last recommendation on Ato Hailu, which says that he should not take any public office. As far as I know, Ato Hailu is not money monger like some of his cohorts. He may not be a good orator or make rhetorics, but he is an astute businessman who knows economics more than any of the economists who claim to have known Ethiopian economy. He is also a man full of integrity.He never takes a dime from any one, rather he gives to those who are in trouble.But there are other guys who have pocketed CUD’s money, but whose name is not mentioned. Who was the treasurer before the break up of CUD? It was Dr Befekadu Degfie, and did he submit the money he hoarded after he was released from prison? To my knoweldge, no. Do some of his colleagues know about it? Yes, his friends including Berhanu Nega know about it ver well. Did CUD make any auditing ? To my knoweldge again no.
Dr Befekadu has resigned from his position and former members of CUD should ask him the money. The Shaleka has soaked his hands in to corruption, no doubt with that, but he is not the only one. There are others like Befekadu, Abayeneh, Shaleka Getachew, Lidetu…who have looted people’s money. I know that what these guys have looted, could not match with what woyane loots daily, but it is a good omen to know what would happen if these guys had taken power. We would have ended up with fresh corrupts. May God keep Ethiopia from the predators.