An Ethiopian court has heard the testimonies of 20 witnesses in defence of seven former employees of Awash International Bank (AIB).

Twelve AIB employees were originally charged with letter of credit misdemeanours while only ten of them were brought to court earlier this year (DC World News, 29 March 2011).

Allegations

It took the court two days to hear all of the witnesses' testimonies for the defendants, who include former AIB president, Leikun Brehanu, who denies the several charges brought against him.

He is charged with failing to implement working directives and failing to take action against employees who breached AIB's regulations while being fully aware that such breaches were taking place.

Denials

The former AIB president is also accused of allowing the bank's foreign currency reserves to exceed the amount allowed by law.

Brehanu denies any wrongdoing in this respect, claiming that the reserves grew due to errors attributable to his junior colleagues and that when he found out about these, he took appropriate management action.

All of the remaining defendants deny the charges against them for offences allegedly committed between October and December 2009.

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