Ecobank Transnational Incorporated on Wednesday announced that its Group Executive Director for Finance and Risk, Mrs. Laurence Do Rego, was no longer its employee.

She had been on suspension for several months following a series of controversies.

A terse statement by the bank’s Group Head of Communications, Mwambu Wanendeya, read, “Ecobank Transnational Incorporated today announces that Mrs. Laurence do Rego, the Group Executive Director for Finance and Risk, is no longer an employee of the company.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission had in August last year commenced an investigation into the bank’s alleged misstatement of its 2012 performance.

In her letter to SEC, do Rego claimed she had come under pressure to write off debts owed by ETI’s Chairman, Mr. Kolapo Lawson, and to manipulate the 2012 results.

She said she resisted the requests, opposed attempts to sell off non-core assets on the cheap, and questioned the manner in which the chief executive’s bonus had been increased.

Several Investors and officials connected with the bank doubted that the measures went far enough to allay concerns among leading shareholders about the way the bank is being run.

Ecobank’s spokesman, Jeremy Reynolds, had said that Do Rego, who joined the lender 11 years ago, was suspended because she falsely claimed to be a qualified accountant, Reuters had reported.

Reynolds also said Do Rego had not responded to the bank’s invitation to meet the board of directors and substantiate her claims.

The Reuters’ report said the bank had been rocked by a string of controversies starting in April last year when the Central Bank of Nigeria questioned the fitness of its Chairman, Lawson, given what it called his “huge outstanding non-performing facilities.”

Lawson has since settled some of his debts and reached an agreement on others.

In September last year, the Chief Executive Officer of ETI, Thierry Tanoh, announced he would forego a controversial $1.14m bonus for 2012 and launch an internal inquiry into allegations of mismanagement, in a bid to draw a line under a crisis of confidence in the pan-African lender’s leadership.

In an email circulated to workers, Tanoh said, as part of the inquiries, the bank’s governance committee would invite do Rego to substantiate allegations she made in a letter to SEC last year.

ETI, which is headquartered in Togo, has been in the vanguard of African banks expanding across borders during a recent continent-wide boom in services.

It has gained a presence in 34 African countries, a solid reputation, and assets worth in excess of $20bn.

Source: Punch (by Oyetunji Abioye)