Gonsalves slams ‘flimsy’ charges against CDB ex-chief

Four months after Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon, the former chief of the Caribbean Development Bank, was sent on administrative leave over a series of unexplained allegations, the prime minister of a borrowing member state has broken his silence to condemn the “sordid” handling of the case.

In a five-page letter dated May 2 and addressed to the chairman and members of the Board of Governors of the Barbados-based CDB, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves branded the case against Dr Leon as “flimsy”.

While the bank has so far not publicly explained why it sent the former president on leave, Dr Gonsalves, who was privy to the investigator’s findings, referenced complaints of misogyny against Dr Leon.

Dr Gonsalves said the complaints revolve around the former president’s alleged closeness to a senior female official upon whom he relied in preference to other senior officials.

However, he insisted: “There is no evidence that this professional woman is not qualified to hold the job to which she was entrusted; indeed, no one provided any, or any credible allegation of her lack of training, capacity or devotion to duty.”

“There was no evidence, too, of any improper relation between the president and the professional woman.”

Yet, Dr Gonsalves declared, the investigator’s report managed to paint a picture of a “veritable feminine Rasputin manipulating a weak and compliant Tsar, in the person of Gene Leon”.

While condemning misogyny in the 21st-century Caribbean that ought to be rejected unequivocally, the prime minister said: “The flimsy evidence presented in the investigator’s report and the concocted narrative of malfeasance or wrong-doing, lack persuasiveness; there is nothing compelling here.”

Dr Gonsalves stressed that the evidence, taken at its highest level, leaves any reasonable and fair-minded Caribbean person with the “inescapable conclusion, that the president, from the outset, was the victim of a stitch-up job”.

He also defended the claims in the investigator’s criticism of a president who travelled too much globally, and used the more expensive Barbados-registered Executive Air charter rather than fly commercially.

But the St Vincent leader countered that the private aircraft was not a jet but a cramped turboprop aeroplane that was certainly not luxurious.

“For me, Gene Leon’s integrity remains intact, though unsuccessful attempts were made to have it impugned,” Dr Gonsalves declared.

“He comes out of this sordid matter without blemish or wrong-doing attached to him. This distinguished son of our Caribbean civilisation ought not to be lynched, metaphorically, any further.”

He reaffirmed St Vincent and the Grenadines’ continued commitment and support for the CDB, its ideals, role and function in re-engineering and uplifting the Caribbean in every material way.

When Dr Leon’s leave expired last month, he resigned with immediate effect. In a letter to the bank, his St Lucia-based lawyers gave the CDB until May 4 “to negotiate an amicable separation”, indicating that their correspondence should be viewed as Leon’s “pre-action protocol letter”, the formal letter lawyers used to warn of an impending lawsuit.

Dr Leon came to the bank as its sixth president with more than 30 years of experience as a development economist. His track record includes directing macroeconomic and financial policy support across several continents, including Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Before his appointment, he worked for over 24 years at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he was Mission Chief for several countries, including Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Bahamas, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.