A Nigerian court has awarded roughly $300,000 in damages to suspended central bank chief Lamido Sanusi after he filed a harassment case against the government.
The court also ordered that Mr. Sanusi be given back his passport and that he should not be detained unlawfully.
He was briefly detained in February, soon after his suspension.
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan suspended him after he claimed that $20bn in oil revenue had gone missing.
Mr. Sanusi’s passport was seized on February 20, at the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s main city.
The Lagos High Court restrained the government from arresting, detaining or harassing him, Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper reports.
Mr. Jonathan says Mr. Sanusi was suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation into “financial recklessness and misconduct” at the central bank.
Nigeria’s state oil firm has denied failing to account for the money, saying Mr. Sanusi’s claim was “unsubstantiated.”
Mr. Sanusi is widely respected after undertaking reforms to the banking sector since his appointment in 2009.
He was named central bank governor of the year for 2010 by Banker magazine.
Source: bbc.co.uk
