Photo Credit: Ethiopian Premier League.
The Ethiopian Premier League Share Company general assembly convened on Sunday to discuss matters related to the league in Addis Ababa.
The meeting held at Hilton Addis was the sixth annual general assembly gathering as officials revealed the league will commence acting on players and clubs that have been involved in a tax fraud scandal.
In late December 2024, Pan-Africa Football, exclusively broke the news on an independent committee set up by the league and government authorities investigating four clubs on possible tax fraud and tax evasion. Now the league has taken a step to penalize those who are said to be questioned over the scandal.
Mechal, Diredawa Ketema, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Sidama Coffee are implicated in the tax fraud scandal as their players have been questioned by a task force since the beginning of September 2024.
Over the summer, the league introduced a new financial system forbidding clubs to spend more than 403,000 USD (50,000,000 Ethiopian Birr) on player’s salary. Nonetheless some clubs defied this regulation and went behind the back door to sign players on a larger sum of money. Most of the negotiations went under the table as some clubs tried to avoid being penalized.
The decision taken by the league will be made public this week. Ethiopian Football Federation president Isayas Jira stated clubs should abide by the regulation to avoid being penalized and create a healthy competition.
Ethiopian Premier League is one of the highest paying leagues in East Africa.
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