The board of an Ethiopian bank has suspended a vice president for an alleged scam that involved bank staff appropriating money from customers opening letters of credit (L/Cs) to obtain foreign currency.

Vice president for international banking at Awash International Bank (AIB), Mitiku Abeshu, is taking enforced leave while he and ten other employees holding several positions are investigated for their alleged roles in the scam.

Allegations

The allegations suggest that when AIB customers wanted to open L/Cs at the bank to obtain foreign currency, the vice president and the ten other bank staff had been appropriating 10 per cent of the money for themselves.

According to the bank's president, Lekun Brehanu, it will not be decided what actions will be taken against the staff until investigations are completed.

Investigations

The bank has now established a committee to investigate the matter headed by vice president of credit and risk management, Tsehay Shiferaw.

He has also assumed the suspended vice president's role in the international banking department.

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