The luck of Saudi-Ethiopian tycoon Mohamed Hussein Al Amoudi seems to have run out in Addis Ababa at present (ION 1249). One of his companies, Midroc Construction, is finding it extremely hard to pay back the $17.5 million loan that was granted to it by the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), and for which Al Amoudi's hotel Sheraton Addis serves as collateral. Another Al Amoudi company, Elfora Agro Industries, which runs a cattle raising farm at Yabelo in Oromiya Regional State, has had its bank account frozen and two trucks impounded by the local authorities because it is behind in its rent for the land. Officials in Yabelo district would even like to auction off the offices of the company based in Debrezeit. In a final blow, the firm Bauer Midroc Foundation Specialist Plc was forced to lay off 100 workers without advance warning or compensation because it has no business contracts of its own at the moment. Dogged by financial problems, the company was forced to back out of projects to construct bridges and buildings in Addis Ababa and Nazareth. Even if some of the woes of his Ethiopian companies can be attributed to strictly financial questions, Al Amoudi has clearly made some enemies in high places and in the government and they seem determined to make life hard for him. Azeb Mesfin, wife of prime minister Meles Zenawi, counts among those enemies ever since she was involved in a murky financial dispute with the Saudi-Ethiopian magnate.The Indian Ocean Newsletter
Sunday, January 11, 2009
HEADLINE: Mohamed Al Amoudi
The luck of Saudi-Ethiopian tycoon Mohamed Hussein Al Amoudi seems to have run out in Addis Ababa at present (ION 1249). One of his companies, Midroc Construction, is finding it extremely hard to pay back the $17.5 million loan that was granted to it by the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), and for which Al Amoudi's hotel Sheraton Addis serves as collateral. Another Al Amoudi company, Elfora Agro Industries, which runs a cattle raising farm at Yabelo in Oromiya Regional State, has had its bank account frozen and two trucks impounded by the local authorities because it is behind in its rent for the land. Officials in Yabelo district would even like to auction off the offices of the company based in Debrezeit. In a final blow, the firm Bauer Midroc Foundation Specialist Plc was forced to lay off 100 workers without advance warning or compensation because it has no business contracts of its own at the moment. Dogged by financial problems, the company was forced to back out of projects to construct bridges and buildings in Addis Ababa and Nazareth. Even if some of the woes of his Ethiopian companies can be attributed to strictly financial questions, Al Amoudi has clearly made some enemies in high places and in the government and they seem determined to make life hard for him. Azeb Mesfin, wife of prime minister Meles Zenawi, counts among those enemies ever since she was involved in a murky financial dispute with the Saudi-Ethiopian magnate.The Indian Ocean Newsletter
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