Awash International Bank S.C. (AIB), one of the biggest private commercial banks in Ethiopia, found itself on the wrong side of the fence with accusation of unpaid bill. A lawsuit was brought at the Federal Higher Court by Giga Construction PLC that claims not to have been paid 22.3 million birr for undertaking a construction of a 10 storey building Balcha Aba Nefso branch of the bank, located in the capital’s Lideta sub city. Giga landed a 257.7 million contract with the bank to build the building six years ago with agreements including the hiring of body that controls the quality of the construction, the use of materials that are of satisfactory quality and methods of payments.

Accordingly, Giga says, Belay Architect was given the responsibility for the stated tasks and it was agreed that the payment to be realized for every phase not later than 21 days after the confirmation. Giga’s charge says it has been more than 100 days it has not been paid 22,341,142 birr. According to the charge, it has been a year since Awash was handed over the building ad has received a certificate affirming the work is to the standard. Now Giga claims 22.3 million birr, which also include interest of loss.

Awash boasts of having the largest presence in Oromia region and affiliated with Oromia state.
In a related news, Awash Bank lost its vice president, Dereje Zebene to Zemen Bank, a less lucrative bank, all the same successful, according to the Reporter. Zemen bank hired Dereje as the new executive president, making him the fourth president of bank since its establishment in 2006.
The Reporter wrote that Dereje served as the vice president for International Banking of Awash Bank and as Transformation and Corporate Strategy vice president at the time the bank went through structural change.