nazret.com

Thirty-Nine Individuals Charged with Conspiring to Bribe Chair of D.C. Taxicab Commission

Source: FBI

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON—Yitbarek Syume, 51, of Silver Spring, Maryland, Berhane Leghese, 47, of Arlington, Virginia, and Amanuel Ghirmazion, 53, of Hyattsville, Maryland, were indicted on bribery charges on October 1, 2009, by a grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, announced Acting United States Attorney Channing D. Phillips and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr.

The indictments, unsealed today, allege that Syume, Leghese, and Ghirmazion, conspired to bribe the Chairperson of the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission, who was working with the government in an undercover capacity, to obtain licenses for multi-vehicle taxicab company licenses. According to the indictment, the defendants made a series of bribe payments to the Chairperson totaling approximately $220,000. If convicted, Syume, Leghese, and Ghirmazion each face up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.

Acting United States Attorney Phillips and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini further announced that 37 individual taxicab drivers were also indicted on bribery charges on October 1, 2009, by a grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The indictments, unsealed today, charge that the defendants conspired with the chairperson of the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission to obtain individual taxicab operator licenses. According to the indictment, the taxicab drivers made a series of bribe payments to the Chairperson totaling approximately $110,000. If convicted, the defendants each face up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.

“The allegations contained in these indictments are serious—describing alleged corrupt activities at the heart of our taxicab industry—and reflect our determination to root out corruption in our government,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips. “Working closely with the FBI, we will continue to investigate this matter fully.”

“Licensing of drivers isn’t just about money and bribes, it’s about how safe you are when you get in a taxicab in downtown Washington,” added Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

The indictments were the result of a two-year long, wide-sweeping investigation into the taxicab industry in Washington, D.C. Twenty-seven defendants have been arrested so far pursuant to the indictments in this case, and five search warrants have been executed. The cases will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Crabb Jr. and John Griffith.

An Indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 39 people Indicted in Taxicab Bribery Scandal, most appear to be Ethiopians
• 3 key suspects and 36 cab drivers in all
• The three suspected as organizers are identified as Yitbarek Syume, 51, of Silver Spring; Berhane Leghese, 47, of Arlington County; and Amanuel Ghirmazion, 53, of Hyattsville
• The indictment alleges that Amanuel Ghirmazion's job was to raise money for the payoffs; Berhanu Leghese prepared documents to obtain the licenses; and Yitbarek Syume arranged for the payments.
• In all more than $220,000 in bribery money was allegedly involved
Source: Washingtonpost.com

Ethiopia - Three Accused Of Taxi Bribery

Alleged Leaders Sought Licenses

By Del Quentin Wilber
Source: Washington Post
Saturday, October 3, 2009

The three men were not afraid to throw serious cash around to get taxicab licenses, authorities say.

They gave a District official an envelope stuffed with $14,000. They passed along $60,000 in a shopping bag. At one point, one of the men dropped a $3,000 bribe, tucked inside a folded newspaper, into the official's car, federal law enforcement officials say.

Authorities say the bribes, doled out from September 2007 through June 2008, totaled more than $220,000. But the influence seekers ran into a major problem Friday: They were indicted on bribery charges. It turns out the government official wasn't keeping the cash. He was working for the feds.

In two indictments made public Friday, federal prosecutors accused Yitbarek Syume, 51, of Silver Spring; Berhane Leghese, 47, of Arlington County; and Amanuel Ghirmazion, 53, of Hyattsville of operating an audacious bribery scheme that sought to profit from changes in D.C. taxi laws. If convicted of bribery and aiding and abetting, each man faces up to five years in prison.

In a separate indictment, authorities alleged that Syume and 36 cabdrivers participated in a second scheme that provided the District official with more than $100,000 in payoffs in a single month in exchange for taxi licenses. Authorities said they arrested 26 people in raids Friday and were seeking others.

Channing Phillips, the acting United States attorney for the District, declined to comment. In a media statement, he said the charges reflected "corrupt activities at the heart of our taxicab industry."

Law enforcement sources said they were first alerted to the activities in 2007 when Leon Swain, the chairman of the D.C. Taxi Commission, reported a bribery attempt to authorities. Swain is not identified by name in court papers but assisted authorities in a two-year investigation that included wiretaps and recorded meetings with suspects.

He was working undercover as recently as last month, according to law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations.

Peter Nickles, the District's attorney general, called Swain a hero.

"He is a standup guy," Nickles said.

The indictments unsealed Friday describe a scheme to obtain licenses for taxicabs and cab companies.

In 2007, the D.C. government ended the city's system of calculating fares by zone and adopted one that uses electronic meters. The indictment says that many in the industry believed the new system would lead to more regulation, "including stringent limitations on the total number of taxicabs licensed to do business." By July of last year, the District enacted a moratorium on the issuance of licenses to operate multi-cab taxi companies.

In apparent anticipation of the moratorium, Syume, Leghese and Ghirmazion conspired to bribe Swain to obtain "numerous" cab company licenses, the indictment says. The men were hoping to sell some of the licenses and hold onto others, which they believed would become more valuable, the indictment alleges.

The indictment alleges that Ghirmazion's job was to raise money for the payoffs; Leghese prepared documents to obtain the licenses; and Syume arranged for the payments.

The bribes were large and began Sept. 5, 2007, when Syume gave Swain an envelope filled with $14,000 in cash, the indictment alleges. The next day, he gave Swain $8,000. In January 2008, he gave Swain $99,000, the indictment says.

In exchange, Swain gave the men licenses.

The investigation became public last week and turned to city hall. A senior aide to a D.C. council member was arrested on bribery charges. Ted G. Loza, chief of staff to Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), has pleaded not guilty and is free on personal recognizance.

In court papers, federal authorities accused Loza of taking $1,500 in cash, free trips and limousine rides from Abdulaziz Kamus, an advocate of the Ethiopian taxi community, in exchange for trying to influence taxi legislation.

Kamus was working as an informant for authorities, according to sources. He became known to federal agents when Swain reported that Kamus had tried to bribe him, the sources have said.

Kamus apparently flipped after being approached by federal agents. He has declined to comment. His attorney, Shawn Moore, also declined to comment.

Graham has said he did nothing wrong. Law enforcement sources say that Graham is not a target of an investigation but that they are investigating his ties to the taxi industry.

It is not clear whether other city employees face charges. But FBI agents raided the home of a former official, Causton Toney, Friday morning, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation and a source in city government. Toney, who is not charged with any crime, is a former chairman of the D.C. Taxi Commission. He did not return a phone message seeking comment.

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Taxicab Bribery Scandal

MyFOX DC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The corruption probe involving the D.C. Taxicab industry widened considerably Friday with the indictment of 37 people-- most of them cab drivers-- all charged with conspiracy to commit bribery.

The FBI also raided the home of a former chairman of the D.C. Taxicab commission, searching it for several hours. It’s all connected to the arrest last week of D.C. City Councilman Jim Graham’s chief of staff.

According to the indictment, people in the taxicab industry filled shopping bags with cash and gave it to the current chairman of the D.C. Taxicab Commission-- all of it in return for fraudulent taxicab licenses.

Around mid-morning Friday, FBI agents raided the home of Causten Toney, the former chairman of the commission. Agents spent more than three hours inside, leaving with several boxes.
Toney, a lawyer, is not named in the indictments and he was not taken into custody. No one answered the door in the minutes after the agents left.

By mid-day Friday, the FBI had in custody 27 of the 37 people under indictment.
Most of them are cabbies accused of conspiracy to commit bribery, handing over as much as $330,000 in cash to the current chairman of the Taxicab Commission, Leon Swain, who the government says was cooperating with the FBI, working undercover, accepting money in exchange for fraudulent licenses.

According to the indictment:

"On or about September 18, 2009, Yitbarek Syume gave the Chairperson approximately $51,000 in cash as partial payment for taxicab operator licenses that he and the other co-conspirators were attempting to obtain corruptly."

Then,

"On or about September 21, 2009, Yitbarek Syume gave the Chairperson approximately $40,000 in cash as partial payment for taxicab operator licenses that he and the other co-conspirators were attempting to obtain corruptly."

The probe went public last week when the chief of staff for Ward One Councilman Jim Graham was arrested and charged with accepting a bribe. Teddy Loza is accused of taking $1,500 in exchange for assistance in shaping taxicab legislation.

Late Friday afternoon, Jim Graham confirmed two of his staffers have received subpoenas to testify before the Grand Jury. FOX 5 asked Graham several questions about his involvement in the investigation.

FOX 5: "Have you been offered a bribe?"

Graham: "I have not received a bribe of any kind, I have not done anything illegal or unethical."

FOX 5: "Have you been offered a bribe?"

Graham: "I am not the subject of any investigation."

FOX 5: "Have you been offered a bribe?"

Graham: "That's all I'm gonna say."

FOX 5: "You won't answer that question?"

Graham: "That's all I'm going to say for now if you don't mind."

Jim Graham also would not say whether or not he has been recorded by the FBI on video or audio surveillance. The Ward One Councilman says he is not a target of the investigation.

According to the indictment, the Chairman of the Taxicab Commission has been cooperating with the government and accepting shopping bags filled with cash since 2007.

Why the FBI searched the home of the former chairman, Causten Toney, is still unclear.

Click Full Screen to see the indictment

Read The Indictment

The parents and sister of Ethiopian runner Leila Aman, left, shown after finishing second in the Lagos International Half Marathon in 2004, were killed earlier this week in an apparent murder-suicide.

Murder-suicide claims Ethiopian runner's parents, sister

By Elshadai Negash

Universal Sports

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The brother in-law of prominent Ethiopian distance runner Leila Aman shot and killed Aman’s parents and sister on Monday during an apparent domestic dispute in the town of Assela, located about 175 kilometers of the country’s capital Addis Ababa, according to sources close to the family.

The sources said the incident took place in the home of Leila’s father Aman Tola following an altercation between Leila Aman’s youngster sister Zeyni and her husband of two years. They said the husband, whose name was not provided, was a police officer deployed in the nearby Bale district. The sources said he shot his wife and her parents with a rifle at around 8 p.m. and then killed himself. Zeyni Aman and her mother died before paramedics arrived on the scene. Tola died on the way to hospital.

“It is a really shocking incident and we are all disturbed,” said Kassim Adilo, a cousin of Leila Aman and husband to 2009 Houston Marathon women’s champion Teyiba Erkesso.

Arsi District police did not comment when asked about the incident.

Leila Aman, 31, ran a personal best 2:27:54 and finished fifth at the 2004 Berlin marathon. She was second in the 2003 Abebe Bikila International Marathon, one of only two marathons held annually in Ethiopia.

Leila Aman was unavailable to comment. She trains with a group of Ethiopian runners based in Addis Ababa and is coached by Hadji Adilo, who manages the Ethiopian operations of agent Hussein Makke. The Adilo family comprises one of Ethiopia’s largest running dynasties.

“Many of us [the training group] were in Addis to prepare for our marathons and it would really be difficult for us to get through this,” said Kassim Adilo, who won the 2008 Eurasia marathon and has run a personal best 2:10:20.

Erkesso is scheduled to run in the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11 and Adilo plans to run the Istanbul marathon on October 18.