Commercial Bank of Ethiopia auctions off Mina building

By Derage Berhanu

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia- Mina building, an 11 storey building erected on a 3,000 square meter plot of land, owned by Mina trading located on the Ethio-china friendship Avenue, which was put as collateral to secure a 31 million Birr merchandise loan, half of what Tis Abay had taken from the Commercial bank of Ethiopia (CBE) as loan in 1997.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia sold the building in an open auction with the bid starting at 26.4 million birr and ended up being sold at 45.1million Birr. The Commercial bank of Ethiopia had to auction Mina building in it is bid to recover loans it has advanced to Tis Abay plc.
The imprisonment of Abebaw Desta and Minwuyelet Atnafu owners of Mina trading in May 2001 over corruption charges were acquitted after five years in jail. Both companies had debts reaching 180 million Birr to CBE upon their release from jail in 2006. The bank served the companies a 30- day notice of closure in March 2007 amidst talks being conducted with the owners.

The Bank however issued on may 7, 2007 one month notice threatening to auction all collateralized assets held by the two companies. In October 2007, the bank further notified the federal transport Authority (FTA) to instruct members of the traffic police in all regions to apprehend all the trucks put on collateral wherever they might be.
The bank’s recovery department confiscated all the 212 trucks held for collateral. The bank has also auctioned five residential villa held as collateral