An Ethiopian court has finished hearing testimonies against a group of former employees of Awash International Bank (AIB) who stand accused of mishandling of letters of credit (L/Cs).

The defendants have all pleaded not guilty to the charges, which relate to offences allegedly committed between October 2009 and December 2010.

Charges

Twelve of the bank's employees were originally charged with L/C misdemeanours while only ten of them were brought to court earlier this year (DC World News, 29 March 2011).

There are now only nine defendants, including AIB's former vice president of international banking, Mitiku Abush.

Prosecution case

The prosecution argued that the defendants disregarded bank procedures by wrongly approving around US$6.1 million of L/Cs.

Prosecutors argued that they acted beyond AIB's foreign currency regulations and falsified documents while their actions created an artificial foreign currency shortage and harmed the interests of others.

If they are found guilty, the former bankers could face jail terms of up to ten years.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.