Mr. Adesina, elected in 2015 to head the AfDB , has been the subject since the beginning of the year of a series of embarrassing accusations, leaked to the press in April.

The Office of the AfDB , one of the world's top five multilateral development banks, has expressed "full confidence" in the panel which will be "chaired by Ms. Robinson" and composed of "individuals of unquestionable experience and professional integrity. , as well as a proven international reputation".

The office will have to submit its report "within a period of two to four weeks maximum", according to the text.

President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, Ms. Mary Robinson, a lawyer by profession, was then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.

In a report, whistleblowers blame Mr. Adesina in particular for his favoritism in many senior appointments, in particular of Nigerian compatriots, for having appointed or promoted people suspected or convicted of fraud or corruption, or again to have granted them comfortable severance pay without sanctioning them.

Charges refuted by Mr. Adesina, 60, the first Nigerian to lead the AfDB since its creation in 1964, who claims his "innocence", and who was quickly exonerated by the Bank on the strength of a report by his committee. internal ethics.

But the United States, the AfDB 's second largest shareholder after Nigeria, demanded the launch of an independent investigation at the end of May, calling into question the work of the ethics committee and provoking a serious crisis in the pan-African institution.