The Independent Review Panel raised by the African Development Bank (AfDB), has cleared Akinwumi Adesina, of any wrongdoings.
An Independent Review Panel was raised by the Bureau of Governors of the Bank, 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 cleared Adesina.
The three-member panel headed by Mary Robinson, a former President of the Republic of Ireland, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, Hassan B. Jallow; and Leonard McCarthy, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, a former Director for the Office of Serious Economic Offences.
In January, 16 allegations of ethical misconduct were levelled against Adesina by whistleblowers. The allegations which were reviewed by the Bank’s Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors, were described as “frivolous and without merit.” The findings and rulings of the Ethics Committee were subsequently upheld by the apex Bureau of the Board of Governors in May.
Apart from reviewing the report of the ethics committee, the panel also reviewed each of the 16 allegations by the whistleblowers and Adesina’s responses to them.
The report of the Independent Review Panel states 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 said in its report that “It has considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”
This has cleared Adesina for re-election for a second five-year term as president during annual meetings of the bank scheduled for August 25-27.
