Leading African banker on the ropes

Leading African banker Akinwumi Adesina’s hopes of being re-elected as head of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in August are fading as he battles US demands for a probe into accusations of ethical violations and favouritism. In 2015, he became the first Nigerian to head one of the world’s five largest multilateral development lenders. His flamboyant style gained him continent-wide renown when the institution last October secured $115bn in funding pledges – doubling its capital and cementing its glittering triple-A credit rating. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, a 15-page whistle-blowers’ report notes that under his watch, the AfDB has been tarred by poor governance, impunity, personal enrichment and favouritism. Complicating matters is the fact that the bank’s ethics committee has already exonerated Adesina, saying the allegations rest ‘on no objective, solid facts’. US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has questioned the outcome of the probe and called on the AfDB’s board to appoint an independent investigator to uphold accountability. A Business Day analysis notes that Adesina lashed out at the allegations that invoked ‘my heroes, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan, whose lives have shown that through pain we grow’. The board last week agreed to an independent review, with a four-week deadline. Fifty-four of the AfDB’s shareholders are African, while others are from the Americas, Asia and Europe.

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The African Bar Association (ABA) has deliberated on the needless controversy. The association said the allegations were thoroughly investigated by the Bank’s ethics committee which exonerated Adesina. Ordinarily, this should put the matter to rest. ‘The position of the association is that, though such shareholders have a right of say in the affairs of the bank, they have no right to impose their views or private procedures on the institution,’ said ABA president Hannibal Uwaifo in a statement received by Legalbrief. He further warned that the debacle ‘could spell a gradual descent into an abyss marking the deliberate destruction of one of Africa’s surviving legacies that unites the continent’.