ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has formed a new task force to fight corruption consisting of key government institutions as the East African nations engages in a massive anti-corruption crackdown.
The statement was made to Ethiopia state media on Friday by Akiliu Mulugeta, corruption prevention director at Ethiopian Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEACC), explaining that the new task force will have members from FEACC itself, Federal Attorney General, Ethiopian Federal Police Commission, Addis Ababa Police Commission and Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA).
The announcement coincided with the arrest of dozens of business people, brokers and senior government officials in an anti-corruption crackdown that is the biggest in Ethiopia for years.
Assets of hundreds of individuals and several businesses have also been frozen in the anti-corruption crackdown.
Sugar development, road and building construction, housing, financial institutions and officials from Addis Ababa city administration in particular have consisted the bulk of the arrested individuals.
Ethiopian government has identified corruption and rent seeking activities as part of the reason Ethiopia was rocked by sweeping unrest in 2016.
The Ethiopian government has since then promised to crack down on grand scale corruption which has afflicted one of the world's fastest growing economies.
