Ten months after his departure as CEO of the Pan-African bank Ecobank, Thierry Tanoh is poised to become a billionaire. This wealth does not necessarily come from his salary nor from his new job as Deputy General Secretary of the Ivorian presidency but from damages for loss suffered in the case against Ecobank.
According to information released by the magazine Jeune Afrique which quoted Francois Koumoin, the president of the commercial court of Abidjan, Ecobank Transnational Inc. has been ordered by the commercial court in Abidjan to pay former Chief Executive Officer Thierry Tanoh 7 billion CFA Francs ($12.3 million).
According to the Pan-African magazine, the court has criticized the former employers of Mr Tanoh of being guilty of “unfair dismissal” (without notice) and “defamation”.
Note That, Thierry Tanoh, was removed and replaced by his deputy Albert Essien as CEO of Ecobank in March 2014 after regulators probed allegations of management fraud and poor corporate governance at the pan-African bank which stock is traded in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana.
For his part, Richard Uku, the communications director of the banking group, found that “the amount is excessive and irrational.”
The spokesman said the group plans to appeal and disputes the choice of Abidjan as the place of the procedure.