By Yohanes Gessesse
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Three Ethiopians have been prevented from leaving Beijing, China, for five months because of debt claims of over 100 million birr ($10 million) owed to Chinese business people. They are being held until the of sum money, which is controversially owed to the Chinese businessmen, have been fully paid.
Meanwhile, the National Bank of Ethiopia have said it does not recognize agreement between the two parties. Endalkachew Sahle, Yonas Turga and Rahel Gebreyohaness wrote a letter and pleaded with the Ethiopian embassy in Beijing that they had been held in China because certain Ethiopian businesspersons had refused to pay money they owed their Chinese counterparts.
Plea
“It has been five months and ten days since we have been prohibited from leaving this country. We have repeatedly pleaded with the authorities to help us. The issue has been brought before the government of Ethiopia and an order has been given to the debtors to pay back the money in a specific time. That deadline has been neglected and another two months has passed,” the individuals said in their letter.
The Chinese creditors have increasingly become agitated that their money has not been paid back on the specified time, according to the letter.
“We have learned that because the board chairman and others under him are not willing to pay the money they owe the Chinese, other businesspersons have also become reluctant,” they said.
The person who was mentioned as “board chairman” told the media in Addis Ababa that he was aware of the situation and said that the three individuals were employees of Bright Solutions International. According to Dendir Woldesenbet, the organization operates as a “liaison office”.
“Due to the inflation in the country, we were not able to sell the ready-made cloth that was imported into the country. People spent their money on food rather than on cloth,” Dendir said.
When asked how much he and his colleagues owed the Chinese, however, he was not willing to give specific figures.
Others in the business that spoke to media however said that the Chinese have controversially been denied over a 100 million birr ($10million). Dendir said 75 percent of the debt has already been paid. It was not possible to confirm whether that was the case.
“These people and their track record have made it impossible for traders like us who work under the rules and procedures to work with the Chinese. Some of these men who have been mentioned owe as much as 15 to 21 million. They are also tarnishing the image of this country,” a Merkato businessman said under condition of anonymity.
“All these talk about not being able to sell the products is rubbish, the whole of Merkato knows how fast these people sell what they imported. All one has to do is ask them to show the unsold ready-made cloth they took from the Chinese,” the businessman said.
The National Bank of Ethiopia said it does not recognize the sort of deal that was made between the Chinese creditors and their Ethiopian debtors.
Alemayehu Kebede, head of the Modernization and Foreign Relations Directorate at the National Bank of Ethiopia said: “All I can say is that, we can only say the National Bank of Ethiopia does not give recognition to such informal agreements.”
“One, we do not give such loans to individuals. Two, even if there was such provision it ought to pass through banking procedures,” he added.