{"id":2197,"date":"2020-05-28T00:06:33","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T23:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedailyleaks.com\/?p=2197"},"modified":"2020-05-28T00:06:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T23:06:33","slug":"afdb-adesina-fights-back-on-corruption-accusations-us-demands-independent-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedailyleaks.com\/afdb-adesina-fights-back-on-corruption-accusations-us-demands-independent-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"AfDB: Adesina fights back on corruption accusations, US demands independent probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina has pledged to continue working as he fought back against allegations of corruption and favouritism leveled against him.<\/p>\n
Anonymous\u00a0whistleblowers had accused Adesina of embezzlement, preferential treatment of Nigerians in senior appointments and promoting people accused or found guilty of fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n
Adesina issued a press statement on Wednesday in which he strongly criticised what he termed \u201cunprecedented attempts\u201d to taint his reputation with accusations which have shaken the institution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI maintain my innocence with regard to trumped up allegations that unjustly seek to impugn my honour and integrity, as well as the reputation of the African Development Bank,\u201d Adesina said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am confident that fair, transparent and just processes that respect the rules, procedures and governance systems of the Bank, and rule of law, will ultimately prove that I have not violated the Code of Ethics of this extraordinary institution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adesina\u2019s response comes after the US Treasury Department wrote a letter urging the AfDB to carry out an independent investigation into the alleged ethics breaches by Adesina.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ:\u00a0<\/strong>\u2018They killed him\u2019, sister of US black man protests, mayor backs white policeman prosecution<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n However, an internal inquiry by the Bank\u2019s Ethics Committee cleared Adesina of all charges prompting whistleblowers to demand an independent inquiry after their complaint did not appear to gain momentum.<\/p>\n Mnuchin said that a complete dismissal of allegations against Adesina without adequate investigation would taint the AfDB\u2019s reputation at a critical point in time. He added that further inquiry was necessary to ensure the AfDB\u2019s President had \u201cbroad support, confidence, and a clear mandate\u201d from shareholders.<\/p>\n The 60-year-old has previously denied the allegations labeling them as an attempt to discredit him from seeking another term at the helm of Africa\u2019s largest multilateral lender.<\/p>\n Adesina, formerly Nigeria\u2019s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, was elected as the 8th\u00a0President of the AfDB in 2015. He is the sole candidate in this year\u2019s race at an annual general meeting scheduled for August.<\/p>\n The United States is the second largest shareholder of the AfDB with a 6.5 per cent stake behind Nigeria, Adesina\u2019s home country, which has a nine per cent stake.<\/p>\n How it all began<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n After the whistleblowers’ allegations, an internal inquiry by the AfDB’s Ethics Committee cleared Adesina of all charges, but the U. S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected plans by the African Development Bank\u2019s board to end an investigation into its president, Adesina, and called for an independent probe into allegations against him.<\/p>\n In a letter dated May 22 and addressed to Niale Kaba, chairwoman of the bank\u2019s board of governors, Mnuchin said the Treasury disagrees with findings by the bank\u2019s ethics committee that \u201ctotally exonerated\u201d Adesina. Kaba confirmed receipt of the document and declined further comment.<\/p>\n The intervention by the Treasury, the AfDB\u2019s biggest non-African shareholder, comes two weeks after the ethics committee found\u00a0no evidence<\/a> to support allegations of favoritism by Adesina. The 60-year-old 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have deep reservations about the integrity of the committee\u2019s process,\u201d Mnuchin said. \u201cInstead, we urge you to initiate an in-depth investigation of the allegations using the services of an independent outside investigator of high professional standing.\u201d<\/p>\n Boomberg<\/a> said the U.S. Treasury didn\u2019t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.<\/p>\n Adesina was accused by a group of unidentified\u00a0whistleblower<\/span>s of handing contracts to acquaintances and appointing relatives to strategic positions at the Abidjan-based lender.<\/p>\n \u201cConsidering the scope, seriousness, and detail of these allegations against the sole candidate for bank leadership over the next five years, we believe that further inquiry is necessary to ensure that the AfDB\u2019s president has broad support, confidence, and a clear mandate from shareholders,\u201d Mnuchin said.<\/p>\n The U.S. has a 6.5% stake in the lender, the largest shareholding after Adesina\u2019s home country of Nigeria as of November 2019, according to the AfDB\u2019s website.<\/p>\n U.S. criticism of the bank\u2019s internal processes follows comments by World Bank President David Malpass in February that multilateral lenders including the AfDB tend to provide loans too quickly, and, in the process, add to African nations\u2019 debt problems. The bank\u00a0rebutted<\/a>\u00a0the statements as \u201cinaccurate and not fact-based.\u201d<\/p>\n The AfDB is Africa\u2019s biggest multilateral lender and has an AAA rating from Fitch Ratings, Moody\u2019s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings. Its shareholders are Africa\u2019s 54 nations and 27 countries in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia.<\/p>\n In March, the lender issued a\u00a0$3 billion<\/span>\u00a0social bond to help African countries deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Bids for the securities on the London money market exceeded\u00a0$4.6 billion<\/span>. The bank also launched a\u00a0$10 billion<\/span>\u00a0crisis-response facility for African nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina has pledged to continue working as he fought back against allegations of corruption and favouritism leveled against him. Anonymous\u00a0whistleblowers had accused Adesina of embezzlement, preferential […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,2],"tags":[392,60,393],"coauthors":[25],"class_list":{"0":"post-2197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-top-news","10":"tag-afdb","11":"tag-akinwunmi-adesina","12":"tag-corruption"},"yoast_head":"\nClear Mandate<\/h3>\n