US Treasury calls for probe into AfDB president

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has rejected plans by the African Development Bank’s board to end an investigation into its president, Akinwumi Adesina, and called for an independent probe into allegations against him. In a letter addressed to Niale Kaba, chairperson of the bank’s board of governors, Mnuchin said the Treasury disagreed with findings by the bank’s ethics committee that 'totally exonerated' Adesina. A report on the Fin24 site notes that Kaba confirmed receipt of the document but declined to comment. The intervention by the Treasury, the bank’s biggest non-African shareholder, comes two weeks after the ethics committee found no evidence to support allegations of favouritism by Adesina. The bank chief, who has repeatedly refuted the allegations, is the only candidate up for election as president at an annual general meeting scheduled for August.

Full Fin24 report