The president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mauricio Claver-Carone, attributed this Friday to an “anonymous political and media campaign” the denunciation against him that he had had an intimate relationship with an employee, in breach of the bank's code of ethics.
An anonymous email sent to the bank's board of directors and ethics officer a week ago accused Claver-Carone of having a relationship with an employee who reported directly to him. The email also accused him of embezzling IDB funds.
The IDB's code of ethics on its website states: “It is forbidden to participate in any decision related to the employment of someone with whom you have an intimate relationship.”
During the presentation of the Latin American macroeconomic report for 2022, Claver-Carone responded to reports published in some media about the allegations against him.
In this regard, the American denounced “an anonymous political and media campaign” spurred by personnel of the same bank, and asserted that he is not being guaranteed “due process” in the investigation.
“How can we advocate for the rule of law and transparency when, in the past two weeks, the staff of this bank have been denied due process by a few who have proven and inexplicably violated the code of ethics by using an anonymous letter as a weapon? ”, he questioned.
The president of the IDB said he “fully” supports the agency's mechanisms for resolving ethical disputes, but lashed out at the leak of the scandal to the media.
“The procedures do not include leaking stories to journalists to influence public opinion or prejudge the facts,” he reproached.
Claver-Carone asked IDB workers to trust him as he has “evidence of the truth,” but said he will not make it public in order to “respect what should be a confidential process.”
The president of the IDB also made a statement about his management at the head of the bank, in which he claimed to have turned the organization into a 21st century institution, to have eliminated the use of private planes and to have promoted gender equality.
On this last point, he specifically mentioned that a woman, Reina Irene Mejía Chacón, was appointed for the first time as executive vice president, and “the first female chief of staff in the bank's history” was appointed for the first time, a reference to Jessica Bedoya, IDB Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer, whom he sources in Washington point out as the person involved in the scandal, and with whom he already worked in the White House during the Donald Trump administration.
This week, the 14 directors of the Inter-American Development Bank met to discuss the accusations against Claver-Cardone received through an anonymous email, for which they also convened the general counsel and the deputy secretary. During a virtual meeting that lasted two and a half hours, all participants evaluated the alternatives in the face of the possibility of a scandal.
According to some media reports, the IDB is planning to hire an external company to investigate the incident.
Claver-Carone, a Cuban-American, was elected to head the IDB in September 2020 on the proposal of then-US President Donald Trump (2017-2021). At the time of his election to head the IDB, he faced a strong reaction from some member states, including Argentina and Mexico, which refused to break the bank's tradition since 1959 of having a president of a Latin American country.
Claver-Carone dismissed the rejection at the time and said it had “overwhelming” support, citing public support from 15 countries and six more privately.
Prior to the appointment, in 2020 he worked as a White House official, serving under Trump's leadership as senior director of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council.
The IDB is a development bank that, although much smaller than the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, is a key player in Latin America. It was responsible for $23.4 billion in financing and other financial commitments to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021, according to figures released by the bank itself.
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