{"id":73682,"date":"2020-05-28T01:47:27","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T00:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=73682"},"modified":"2020-05-28T01:47:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T00:47:27","slug":"graft-accusation-adesina-maintains-innocence-says-they-want-to-tarnish-my-reputation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/graft-accusation-adesina-maintains-innocence-says-they-want-to-tarnish-my-reputation\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAFT ACCUSATION: Adesina Maintains Innocence, Says &#8220;They Want To Tarnish My Reputation&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"m6195965629455348400\" class=\"mail-message expanded\">\n<div class=\"mail-message-header spacer\">The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina,<\/div>\n<div class=\"mail-message-content collapsible zoom-normal mail-show-images \">\n<div class=\"clear\">hit back on Wednesday at accusations of corruption and vowed to continue<br \/>\nworking.<\/p>\n<p>In a press statement, Adesina slammed \u201cunprecedented attempts by some to<br \/>\ntarnish my reputation\u201d and declared \u201cI will\u2026 continue to work with each<br \/>\nand every one of our shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United States is pressing for an independent probe into charges by<br \/>\nwhistleblowers \u2014 declared as unfounded by an internal inquiry \u2014 of<br \/>\nalleged embezzlement and favouritism under Adesina, who is bidding for a<br \/>\nsecond five-year term at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI maintain my innocence with regard to trumped up allegations that<br \/>\nunjustly seek to impugn my honour and integrity, as well as the<br \/>\nreputation of the African Development Bank,\u201d Adesina said.<\/p>\n<p>He cited \u201cmy heroes, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan, whose lives have<br \/>\nshown that through pain we grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am confident that fair, transparent and just processes that respect<br \/>\nthe rules, procedures and governance systems of the Bank, and rule of<br \/>\nlaw, will ultimately prove that I have not violated the Code of Ethics<br \/>\nof this extraordinary institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Adesina is the first Nigerian to be in charge of the AfDB, one of the<br \/>\nworld\u2019s five largest multilateral development banks.<\/p>\n<p>The former Nigerian agriculture minister is known for his bow ties and<br \/>\nflamboyant manner, but also for a managerial style that critics say is<br \/>\nauthoritarian.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI maintain my innocence with regard to trumped up allegations that<br \/>\nunjustly seek to impugn my honour and integrity, as well as the<br \/>\nreputation of the African Development Bank,\u201d Adesina said.<\/p>\n<p>He cited \u201cmy heroes, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan, whose lives have<br \/>\nshown that through pain we grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am confident that fair, transparent and just processes that respect<br \/>\nthe rules, procedures and governance systems of the Bank, and rule of<br \/>\nlaw, will ultimately prove that I have not violated the Code of Ethics<br \/>\nof this extraordinary institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Adesina is the first Nigerian to be in charge of the AfDB, one of the<br \/>\nworld\u2019s five largest multilateral development banks.<\/p>\n<p>The former Nigerian agriculture minister is known for his bow ties and<br \/>\nflamboyant manner, but also for a managerial style that critics say is<br \/>\nauthoritarian.<\/p>\n<p>The bank\u2019s ethics committee had totally exonerated Adesina, saying the<br \/>\nwhistleblowers\u2019 15-page complaint \u201crested on no objective, solid facts\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Adesina himself has previously dismissed the allegations as \u201cspurious<br \/>\nand unfounded\u201d and \u201cblatantly false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In October 2019, the AfDB raised $115 billion (105 billion euros) in<br \/>\nfresh capital, an operation deemed a personal success for Adesina.<\/p>\n<p>The bank has 80 state shareholders, 54 of which are African. The others<br \/>\nare from the Americas, Asia and Europe.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest shareholder is Nigeria, with nine percent.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mail-message-footer spacer collapsible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, hit back on Wednesday at accusations of corruption and vowed to continue working. In a press statement, Adesina slammed \u201cunprecedented&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>GRAFT ACCUSATION: Adesina Maintains Innocence, Says &quot;They Want To Tarnish My Reputation&quot; - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/graft-accusation-adesina-maintains-innocence-says-they-want-to-tarnish-my-reputation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GRAFT ACCUSATION: Adesina Maintains Innocence, Says &quot;They Want To Tarnish My Reputation&quot; - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, hit back on Wednesday at accusations of corruption and vowed to continue working. 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