Immediately after Bekalu Zeleke was appointed as the youngest president of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), he was confronted with a little nuisance, gossip disclosed. He was summoned by a court in relation to an employee who had sued the bank and was subsequently awarded close to 14,000 Br, according to gossip.

Following this little inconvenience, the lawyers and top managers felt that it would be inappropriate for the chief of the largest bank of the nation to be dragged to court for everything that has to do with the CBE, gossip said. Thus, they had thought it time and in order to delegate his officers to follow such cases.

Delegation of power would not be that easy, claims gossip. Officials at the public notary office demanded a letter of acceptance from the central bank before they granted such authority. Ironically, the central bank has yet to approve Bekalu's appointment; according to the law on banking supervision, he needed to have served in a top management position of a financial institution for a minimum of 1o years. The trouble is, the current president of the CBE is short of a few years towards meeting this requirement.

This was the case with his predecessor, Abie Sanu, whose appointment to CBE's top office was accepted by authorities at the central bank, although his years working in the finance sector were not sufficient to meet the legal requirement at the time. Whether or not he would be accepted by the central bank to his current appointment as chief of the youngest bank, Oromia International Bank (OIB), remains to be seen.

Despite pending acceptance from the central bank, Bekalu continues to act in his capacity as chief of the CBE. This included representing the bank at domestic and international events, including what was planned to be the first business roundtable on Ethiopia, organized by the Economist Group, and where Prime Minister Meles Zenawi would have attended.

Were it to take place as scheduled this week at the Sheraton, he would have also decided for the CBE to sponsor the event paying the 50,000 dollars (pound sterling 34664.25) the organizers have requested, gossip disclosed. This would have won it a place next to the South African MTN, which was prepared to pay 70,000 dollars (pound sterling  48529.95).

Alas, the conference was cancelled last minute, after the organizers met in London with Ethiopia's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, gossip claims. The reasons behind the cancellation are several at the gossip corridors.

Some would say that the Ambassador, who was instrumental for the coming of the group to Ethiopia, felt that participants from crucial sectors, such as leather and horticulture, were not sufficiently in attendance at this event which promised to promote Ethiopia to prospective foreign investors. But, gossip claimed that this issue was resolved earlier last week and the roundtable was planned to be conducted.

The blow came mid-last week; the government withdrew itself from the roundtable. Gossip attributes this to differences on the agenda items meant to be discussed.

There are others at gossip corridors who claim that the organizers have pushed the government out for two reasons, including the confirmed participation of only one third of the 150 people or more they had expected. More serious though, the organizers have included articles in the conference materials that deal with issues out of bounds of an economic and investment nature, and deal with the government's record on human rights, claims gossip. This was because the organizers have given themselves up to pressure by the vocal opposition in the Diaspora and lobbyists of pro-Eritrean forces who are unhappy with Ethiopia being portrayed as a success story by an organization which is a parent company of the world's largest circulating news magazines, The Economist, gossip claims.