By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Pan-African lender Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) will comply with an order by the Commercial Court of Abidjan to publish the court’s judgment in all international media and internet sites in a case of defamation against it by Thierry Tanoh its former chief executive officer (CEO).
The pan African lender in its official website on Friday made a publication which it said was in accordance with the decision of the Commercial Court of Abidjan delivered on January 15, 2015 and would comply.
The court also said that failure to do so, Ecobank, Dr. Daniel Matjila and Public Investment Corporation (PIC) of South Africa will face a fine of $400,000 a day, according to the judgement issued on Jan. 15.
This is coming on the heels of Tanoh’s dismissal as CEO of the bank March 2014 on issues which regulatory authorities said bordered on corporate governance and fraud concerns.
Francois Koumoin, the president of the commercial court in Abidjan in a judgment January 15, 2015 ordered Ecobank and PIC to pay Tanoh the sum of 7.5 billion CFA Francs ($15million) for defamation of character.
The PIC is the largest asset manager in Africa and one of the top shareholders in Ecobank listed in Nigeria, Ghana and on the West African regional bourse BRVM.
Richard Uku, group head of communications of the bank had earlier said both Ecobank and PIC considers the decision “unfortunate and unfair” and the amount “excessive,” and are appealing against it.
As earlier reported, a separate case involving Tanoh’s dismissal has been filed in Togo and it’s expected to come up early February.
