Mirchaw Sinishaw’s Urael Church in DC. The two story
house doesn’t look any thing close to a church.
Dissatisfied with Shaleqa Yoseph and Dr Taye, the estranged chairman of Kinijit, Ato Hailu Shawel, is increasingly relying on former Derg cadre Mirchaw Sinishaw to mobilize support for him in the Washington DC area. The main tactic deployed by Guad (or Gudu) Mirchaw to recruit supporters for Ato Hailu is a propaganda campaign on his weekly radio program against the Kinijit delegation led by Wzt. Bertukan Mideksa. His strategy seems to be that for Ato Hailu to be revived, the Kinijit delegation must be politically destroyed through fabricated accusations and propaganda. As a trained, experienced Marxist cadre, he feels he is equipped to do the job.
ER’s Research Unit has been gathering some information about Ato Mirchaw to understand what drives him to wage an all out campaign against the Kinijit delegation. We will have more report later about his other activities and connections, including his close and wide-ranging family ties with high level officials of the Woyanne regime. Here we will focus on his activities in relation to the church he owns.
Yes, Ato Mirchaw Sinishaw owns a church named ‘Urael’ in Washington DC. This is not news, of course. What the ER Research Unit uncovered is that Ato Mirchaw has been collecting money from his congregation for the purpose of buying a building for the church, and his members, mostly elderly ladies, have contributed generously. A few months ago, he announced to the congregation that he bought a building and moved the church to the new address, from the Catholic Church where he was renting a room to run Urael. The building is a two story house, and doesn’t look any thing close to a church. Yet the members did not mind since they thought it is better than renting.
What the members do not know is that Ato Mirchaw has been lying to them. According to the information obtained by ER, the building that is located at 5716 16th Street and currently being used as ‘Urael’ Church is owned by an individual named Ato Berhane N. Abraham. The building was sold to Ato Berhane by Ato Mirchaw as a real estate agent at the price of $886,000.
Mirchaw Sinishaw holding a microphone for Hailu Shawel
at the Reagan Airport in DC, Sep. 15, 2007
Contrary to what Ato Mirchaw told the congregation, the building is not owned by the church. It is bought and now owned by Ato Berhane, who turns around and rents the building to Ato Mirchaw to be used as a home for Urael.
Urael’s priest, who is on Ato Mirchaw’s payroll, has been getting suspicious lately and started to ask some questions, such as why the church doesn’t have a board of trustees like the other Ethiopian churches.
Since Ato Mirchaw established Urael church a few years ago, he has branched out from driving a taxi to real estate investments, buying commercial buildings and rental properties. He has also bought a brand new $50,000 Hummer recently.
What is significant about this story is that Ato Mirchaw is Hailu Shawel’s close confidant. He has recently became Ato Hailu’s point person in the Washington DC area. He is a leading member of the 11-man special task force Ato Hailu created last month.
Ato Hailu’s close association with Ato Mirchaw, as well as Shaleqa Yoseph, Ato Moges, Dr Taye and other swindlers — goes to show that he has surrounded himself with incredibly corrupt individuals whose fraudulent activities are not limited to politics.
Yoseph Yazew — diverted and squandered over $1.2 million of Kinijit’s funds.
Moges Brook — diverted to an unknown account at least $60,000 from the Los Angeles chapter of Kinijit.
Taye Woldesemayat — failed to report (or may have pocketed) substantial amount of money and other forms of assistance donated to the Ethiopian Teachers Association from sister associations in Europe.
Ato Hailu Shawel himself is said to be deeply involved in corruption. More on that another time.