4 May 2011 Last updated at 14:26 ET

Four Nigerian bank bosses are re-arrested

Central bank boss Lamido Sanusi has made cleaning up Nigeria's banking system the cornerstone of his policies

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arrested four former bank executives who were sacked in 2009 for financial mismanagement.

The anti-corruption agency says the accused, who were already on bail, will face fresh charges.

Separate trials of the former bosses of Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Finbank, and Afribank began on Wednesday in Lagos.

Eight other directors from the same banks are expected to face charges.

The cases come two years after Nigeria's Central Bank issued a $4bn (£2.4bn) bailout for nine banks and removed the chief executives, accusing them of fraudulent practices.

Analysts believe that this prevented the collapse of the nine banks and possibly the country's entire banking sector.

Ever since his appointment two years ago, the governor of the central bank, Lamido Sanusi, has made cleaning up Nigeria's banking system the cornerstone of his polices, insisting that the financial authorities would not tolerate any unethical practices within the sector.