The trial of 10 former employees of Ethiopia's Awash International Bank (AIB) for alleged letter of credit (L/C) misdemeanours has begun.

This is the second time court proceedings have been opened against the accused.

Bank officials

The longest serving president of AIB, Leikun Berhanu, was sacked in December 2010 following an investigation into L/C misdemeanours (Fraud, 6 January 2011).

The bank also sacked another nine of its employees, including its former vice president of international banking, Mitiku Abush (DC World News, 28 September 2010).

Accusations

The defendants are accused of receiving 10 per cent of the foreign currency that AIB made available to customers through L/Cs

They are charged with falsifying documents and approving more than US$6 million of credit in contravention of the bank's foreign currency procedures.

They are also accused of creating an artificial foreign currency shortage and harming the interests of others.

Denials

The defendants have all pleaded not guilty, variously claiming that the charges should be dropped because of a period of limitation and that some of the alleged offences are not sufficiently specific.

An earlier prosecution was halted in its tracks by similar arguments from the defence.

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