In a document seen by SaharaReporters, at least 16 of the 'sins' brought against Adesina were highlighted.
Among other things, Adesina accused to have broken the Code of Conduct for top executives of the AfDB.
As part of the expectations for top executives, the Code of Conduct states, “Observe the highest standards of ethical conduct.
“Refrain from participating in active politics in their home countries or elsewhere.
“Avoid any situation that poses a conflict,or the appearance of a conflict, between personal interest and the performance of official duties.
(a) using their position for private gain (b)giving unwarranted preferential treatment to any organisation or person (c)impeding the efficiency of the bank
(d) losing complete independence or impartiality of action
(e) affecting adversely the confidence of member countries or the public in the integrity of the bank.
"The following cases illustrate what we believe to be serious and repeated breaches of the Code of Conduct by the President.
"These give staff members the impression of a President who is above the law in an institution where rules and regulations apply in function of the President’s interests, as attested by the recent staff survey.
"A President should be leading by example. We observe that the checks and balances provided by the Board of Directors no longer seem to be adequate.
"The following cases are listed in no particular order, and state how we think the Code of Conduct might have been breached. In some of these cases, the conflicts of interest may be hard to prove, but we wish to recall that the Code of Conduct calls for the avoidance not only of actual conflicts of interest, but also of the appearance of such a conflict.
"1. Non-respect of internal rules and regulations in recruitment (unethical conduct, impediment to efficiency, political activity, private gain).
"Since 2015, the President has taken his responsibility of Chief of the Staff to heart, playing a very active role in the recruitment of all managerial positions, acting as the de facto HR Manager. According to our information, for all PL2 positions (manager) and above, the President validates the short list of candidates to be interviewed and the list of candidates selected after the interviews.
"He is known to have excluded top-rated candidates from shortlists and to have canceled shortlists drawn up by independent recruitment panels. As recently put by the General Counsel in a legal opinion, presumably to justify these practices, “... the President is better placed than any ad hoc interview panel to know which prospective candidates for employment by the bank would be best suited in assisting him/her in delivering that vision (which he has been elected to deliver). He/She can recruit the person concerned without passing through an interview panel or any other formal process”.
"This personal involvement in the recruitment process may explain the long delays in recruiting for these three positions and the turnover of HR directors at the bank. This is a source of waste of resources and loss of efficiency. One cannot but wonder if the many vacant managerial positions (division manager, country manager, director or vice-president) and the lack of succession planning are not a strategy to reward countries for the support to the President’s reelection.
"2. Appointment of Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu (unethical conduct, impediment to efficiency, preferential treatment, adversely affecting confidence in the integrity of the
Bank).

A Nigerian citizen, Mrs Anohu-Amazu was appointed on September 1, 2019 to the position of Senior Director in charge of the African Investment Forum (AIF). She was awarded the grade of Senior Director which places her at the same salary level as Vice Presidents without having the same responsibility level. She was previously DG and CEO of the National Pension Commission in Nigeria from 2014 to 2017.
"According to a May 10, 2019 SaharaReporters article, Mrs Anohu-Amazu was dismissed in 2017 by President Buhari following allegations of abuse, allegations, for which the Nigerian House of Representatives launched an official investigation in 2019. President Adesina could not have ignored this situation when he hired her. The position of AIF Director became vacant when the incumbent, Mrs Stella Kilonzo resigned on the 30 of June 2019, among other reasons, because she refused to hire Mrs Anohu-Amazu as a consultant at the request of the President for a fee considerably higher than the applicable standards. Interestingly enough, this position stayed vacant for less than two months when, for example, the position of Director for Integrity and Anti-corruption, also under the direct recruiting authority of the President, remained vacant for 18 months between 2017 and 2018.
"3. Appointment and promotions of Mr. Martin Fregene (unethical conduct, impediment to efficiency, preferential treatment). A Nigerian-born, Mr Fregene is alleged to be the President’s brother-in-law (through their wives). He joined the bank in September 2015 as Adviser in the Office of the President, after having already served in his office when he was Minister of Agriculture of Nigeria. In 2017, it is reported that, at the President’s request, he was appointed lead expert to Mrs. Blanke, VP Agriculture, and then promoted Adviser, both regular positions, both times without competition. Mr Fregene was later promoted again in 2018 to the position of Director of the Agriculture and Agro-industry Department with effect from the 1st of January 2018 when Mr. Ojukwu, the incumbent, was still in place (he retired on the 31st of January). While no succession planning is in place for functions as important as VPs and DGs, it is worth noting that in this case, not only was the succession planned, but it included an overlap of one month. Consequently, the bank ended up with two Directors of Agriculture and paid two salaries for the same position during the month of January 2018. This appointment did not respect the Recruitment Manual which requires a 24-months minimum time in grade before an internal candidate can apply to another position. It is unclear if, if confirmed, the familial affiliation was disclosed during the recruitment process or if it played a role in the promotions.

"4. Mismanagement of the TAAT programme (unethical conduct, impediment to efficiency, preferential treatment, adversely affecting confidence in the integrity of the Bank). T AAT, Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation, is a USD 120m programme designed to speed up the adoption of agricultural technologies through CGIAR agricultural research institutes.
The first phase of the programme, a USD 40m ADF-14 grant to IITA in Nigeria was reluctantly approved by the Board of Directors in 2017, only after the President personally used all of his political weight to defend the transaction and lift the Board’s doubts. One has to remember that the President worked for IITA and AfricaRice, and both institutions were to benefit from the grant. The mastermind behind the project, Mr. Fregene, is also an IITA alumni and the task manager, Mr Mude, is an alumni of ILRI, another institution financed by the programme. In 2018, IITA, the implementing agency, proceeded to purchase through direct procurement USD 5.46m worth of pesticides from a multinational company, while the grant contract specifically prohibited such procurement method.
Fortunately, the fiduciary controls of the bank stopped the process but Mr. Fregene went ahead and personally negotiated the price directly with the supplier and asked for the shipment of the pesticides. When confronted by senior management, he tried to launch a competitive bidding process to cover up the direct purchase. The fiduciary controls of the Bank worked once again and the payment of the supplier’s invoice was blocked for non-compliance with Bank rules. When informed, the President himself requested the payment to be released to the supplier. It is unclear if the on-going investigation was launched at the request of the President or not. One cannot but wonder why Mr. Fregene felt confident enough (1) to proceed with the negotiation and contracting of such a large contract against all applicable rules without even being the implementing agency, (2) to lie to Opscom, one the highest ranked committees of the Bank, about the status of the contract or (3) to entrust the management of the programme to another CGIAR alumni, against all good practices.....


http://saharareporters.com/2020/05/27/sixteen-allegations-unethical-conduct-against-african-development-bank-president-adesina