ADDIS ABABA, May 31 (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Thursday it had detained 50 government and company officials for graft in one of the east African nation's largest crackdowns.

Ethiopia has a relatively clean image by the continent's standards, managing to avoid the sort of major public corruption scandals plaguing neighbour Kenya for example.

The 50 were accused of "illegal practices" in the areas of customs, land ownership and bank deposits, according to a statement by the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

They came from the Customs Authority, Addis Ababa City Administration, the Wonji Sugar Factory and various banks.

Charges against 20 have been filed, while 30 were still under investigation, the commission said, adding that the arrests were based on information from the public.

Although information is often hard to come by in Ethiopia, the sweep appears to be of a similar nature to a 2002 graft crackdown that netted 41 officials from the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.