A much-awaited report by an Independent Review Panel has “completely” exonerated the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, of any ethical wrongdoings.
The panel was set up by the Bureau of Governors of AfDB, following a complaint by the United States, to review the process by which two previous organs of the bank – the Ethics Committee of the Board, and the Bureau of the Board of Governors – had previously exonerated Adesina.
The three-member independent panel included Mary Robinson, who is a former President of the Republic of Ireland; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, Hassan Jallow; and Leonard McCarthy, a former Director of Public Prosecutions.
In January 2020, 16 allegations of ethical misconduct were levelled against Adesina by a group of whistleblowers.
The allegations which were reviewed by the bank’s Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors in March were described as “frivolous and without merit.” The findings and rulings of the Ethics Committee were subsequently upheld by the Bureau of the Board of Governors in May, which cleared Adesina of any wrongdoing.
The report of the independent panel stated that it “concurs with the (Ethics) Committee in its findings in respect of all the allegations against the President and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the Committee.”
The panel’s report added, “It has considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”
The conclusions of the panel, according to stakeholders, are “decisive and now clear the way for Governors of the Bank to re-elect Adesina to a second five-year term” as president during annual meetings of the bank scheduled for August 25-27.
