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My latest @addisstandard.
The MOST IMPORTANT investigation of my career.
5 months with a whistle-blower. In 2009, Ethiopian diplomats embezzled 640,000$ from domestic workers in Lebanon, to pay the lofty fees of an American lobby firm, @DLA_Piper. https://addisstandard.com/as-investigates-a-decade-ago-ethiopian-diplomats-siphoned-640000-from-maids-in-lebanon-to-pay-off-a-us-based-lobby-firm-what-happened-next/
The MOST IMPORTANT investigation of my career.
5 months with a whistle-blower. In 2009, Ethiopian diplomats embezzled 640,000$ from domestic workers in Lebanon, to pay the lofty fees of an American lobby firm, @DLA_Piper. https://addisstandard.com/as-investigates-a-decade-ago-ethiopian-diplomats-siphoned-640000-from-maids-in-lebanon-to-pay-off-a-us-based-lobby-firm-what-happened-next/
The files were leaked to me in Nov 2019. Then began the process of authenticating & identifying those involved. For 11 years, Ethiopians in Lebanon have wondered why over half a million$ in community savings suddenly disappeared. As of today, this is no longer a secret.
The EPRDF led Ethiopian government hired @DLA_Piper. to polish its image on Capitol Hill and to prevent the @WhiteHouse from passing sanctions against Ethiopia for various human rights abuses. DLA Piper made millions off of its work in service of the Ethiopian government.
In my investigation, I identify diplomats involved, as well as those who helped covered-up the embezzlement. This man, Ethiopia's former consul to Jeddah Saudi Arabia, Tekleab Kebede, (also once a consul in Canada) was a key player. I've spoken to most of the diplomats involved.
Ethiopian domestic workers collected the 640,000 in donations over almost 15 years. The money was to be used to send bodies of dead maids in Lebanon to Ethiopia for burial, medical fees for the injured. It was collected through fundraisers, parties, donations from the church etc.
You may have seen my article the other day, Ethiopian domestic workers are stranded in Lebanon. The Ethiopian government thus far chooses not to evacuate its thousands of stranded citizens or even provide them with food aid. They are in a dire predicament. https://qz.com/africa/1859690/ethiopian-domestic-workers-stranded-in-lebanon-by-covid-19/
But after almost 6 months of exhaustive sleuthing, interviews, digging....I can say with the utmost certainty, that the Ethiopian government owes the domestic workers of Lebanon, its own citizens, $640,000 US plus interest. Now would be a pretty darn good time to settle debts.
