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Ecobank ends dispute with ex-CEO Tanoh with $12mn settlement

22 Feb 2016, 02:24 pm
Chibuike Oguh
Ecobank ends dispute with ex-CEO Tanoh with $12mn settlement

News Highlight

- Ecobank sacked Tanoh after Nigeria’s SEC began investigating allegations of mismanagement and fraud.

- Ecobank said its agreement with Tanoh has ended all legal proceedings pending before courts in Togo, Ivory Coast, and United Kingd

Thierry Tanoh, former Group CEO, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, a leading Pan-African banking group, has reached an agreement with Thierry Tanoh, its former Group Chief Executive Officer, to resolve a long-running court dispute.

In March 2014, Ecobank’s Board of Directors sacked Tanoh after Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating allegations of mismanagement and fraud brought by Laurence do Rego, who was at the time the bank’s Group Executive Director, Finance and Risk. Do Rego had alleged that Tanoh pressured her to write off loans owed by a company led by Kolapo Lawson, Ecobank’s chairman at that time.

Tanoh denied wrongdoing and promptly sued Ecobank in Togo for wrongly terminating his contract and in Ivory Coast for defamation. He won both cases last year, with a court in Togo awarding him $11.6 million and a tribunal in Ivory Coast awarding him $15 million. More so, a London judge lifted an injunction, obtained by Ecobank, stopping Tanoh from enforcing the court judgments in Togo and Ivory Coast.

In a statement released last week, Ecobank said its agreement with Tanoh has now ended all legal proceedings pending before courts in Togo, Ivory Coast, and United Kingdom. Although the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Ecobank agreed to pay Tanoh $12 million to settle the dispute.

“Ecobank Transnational Incorporated . . . are delighted that all of the issues which have unfortunately arisen over the past few years with Mr. Tanoh have now been resolved and that the parties have found a solution that is in the interest of all,” the statement said.

Ecobank hired Tanoh, an Ivorian, in 2013 from the International Finance Corporation where he was a vice president. Tanoh is currently Ivory Coast’s Deputy Secretary-General of Economic Affairs and Finance and a senior adviser to President Alassane Quattara.

Ecobank is one of the largest banks in Africa with operations in 36 African countries and over $23 billion in assets. In nine months ended in September last year, Ecobank reported revenues of $1.59 billion and profits of $265 million.


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