Matthew Mpoke Bigg Accra
Ecobank Transnational has sued a top executive who left the pan-African lender this month, naming him in a civil complaint in Togo as the author of an anonymous e-mail accusing the company’s chief executive, Thierry Tanoh, of mismanagement.
The executive, David Lawson, denied to Ecobank that he wrote the e-mail and said he had been unfairly dismissed. He accused Ecobank executives, including Tanoh, of hacking his phone and e-mail account in a fruitless search for evidence against him. The company denies wrongdoing.
The row comes as Ecobank tries to shore up confidence in its governance after a Nigerian industry watchdog began investigating the way it reported financial results.
It also comes after South African lender Nedbank said this month that it planned to exercise an option it has from December to buy up to a fifth of Ecobank Transnational, according to Bloomberg.
The bank’s chairman quit last month, saying it was not appropriate for him to stay given the company’s ongoing reviews of governance.
Ecobank has been viewed by investors as an African success story for its strong growth and expansion beyond its Togo base into 33 African countries. It made record profits last year.
One member of Ecobank’s board told his colleagues in an e-mail seen by Reuters that Lawson’s hacking allegations were a cause for concern and could get the bank into trouble.
Lawson, who left as head of strategy on November 8, was a member of the group executive committee that runs Ecobank and reports to its board.
A spokesman for Ecobank declined to discuss the circumstances of Lawson’s departure.
Lawson said on Monday: “In the panel’s attempt to implicate me in this affair… [it] resorted to the illegal acts of phone tapping, e-mail hacking, stalking and invasion of privacy.”
He said that at a disciplinary hearing about the e-mail, fellow executives had pressed him repeatedly to name board members who they suspected of being his accomplices in the matter. He called the hearing an “illegal kangaroo court”.
Lawson said that he had e-mailed Ecobank’s executive committee and board on November 11, stating that he had a recording of the disciplinary hearing that showed the committee discussing details about him and his communications that it could only have obtained by hacking his e-mail and bugging his phone.
The bank’s suit says Lawson wrote the anonymous e-mail to senior executives on August 31, accusing Tanoh of paying himself an inflated bonus for work done in the months before he took office at the start of this year.
Tanoh, a former vice-president of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, said in September that he was forgoing any bonus as part of the bank’s efforts to restore confidence in light of the Nigerian investigation.
The August 31 e-mail, which is entitled “Major corporate governance issues at Ecobank” and has been seen by Reuters, said Ecobank was “at risk” because of poor leadership.
It was sent from a cybercafe in Ghana and police there had identified Lawson from a security video at the cafe at the time the e-mail was sent, Ecobank said in its lawsuit.
The First Class Tribunal of First Instance in Togo’s capital, Lomé, has adjourned the case until February 14.
A South African member of Ecobank’s board, Sipho Mseleku, contacted other board members by e-mail on November 11 to express concern over Lawson’s hacking allegations against the company.
“Such invasion of privacy is not only illegal but also criminal,” Mseleku said.
“This is likely to put the institution in further trouble. The institution cannot solve problems through illegal means,” Mseleku added. Seleku did not respond to a request for comment and his e-mail did not state explicitly that he believed that Lawson’s hacking allegations were accurate.
The Ecobank spokesman, Jeremy Reynolds, confirmed Mseleku’s e-mail to board members and said: “I can give you a categorical denial that there has been any phone tapping or e-mail hacking.” – Reuters