ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's southern regional state has convicted 413 individuals over corruption charges during the Ethiopian Fiscal Year (EFY) 2016/17 which ended on July 8, an official said on Thursday.
The 413 convicts were given prison sentences ranging from 3 months to 17 years based on the gravity of their corruption crimes, said Solomon Hailu, head of Southern regional state Communications Affairs office.
Properties of the convicts including guesthouses, residential houses, high rise buildings and vehicles were also seized as part of the anti-corruption drive.
The Southern regional state Communications Affairs Office also said 14.5 million U.S. dollars of illicit cash were recovered from the convicts during the 2016/17 period.
Ethiopian government has identified corruption and rent seeking activities as among the reasons why 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.
