THE President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina has been cleared of corruption charges after a review by an independent panel.
Following intense pressure, stakeholders insisted on a fresh investigation in April after an internal review cleared him.
Recall that Whistleblowers had accused the Nigerian top banker of giving contracts to friends and appointing relatives at the bank which Mr Adesina who is set to be re-elected for another five-year term in August denied.
Adesina, while denying the allegations against him, alleged they were politically-motivated and conceived as a ploy by some interested persons to tarnish his reputation over the election.
The panel of three experts, was made up of Ireland’s ex-President Mary Robinson, Gambian Chief Justice Hassan Jallow and Leonard McCarthy, formerly the World Bank’s integrity vice-president.
They backed the findings of the bank’s ethnic’s committee, which cleared Mr Adesina of all charges alleged by the whistleblowers in January.
“The panel concurs with the 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,” their report concluded.
The report is a rebuff to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose rejection of the committee’s original review led to their inquiry, the Bloomberg news agency reports.