President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mauricio Claver-Carone has charged that there is an “envious” political campaign against him and the work he has so far done at the development financial institution.
He alluded to allegations that have come up against him over the past couple weeks about an alleged involvement with an advisor and misuse of funds.
However, during a presentation on Friday to introduce the IDB Macroeconomic Report – From Recovery to Renaissance: Turning Crisis into Opportunity, Claver-Carone said he was prepared to present evidence if needed.
Towards the end of his presentation on the report, Claver-Carone made it clear that the IDB had mechanisms in place to investigate allegations and that this process should be made to work, as he accused “a select few” of allegedly violating the code of ethics by weaponising an anonymous letter to overstate some of their campaign.
“That’s a violation,” he said.
“The IDB has mechanisms in place for seriously handling matters . . . which I fully support and welcome, but none of those processes include proactively pitching stories to journalists to influence public opinion or to prejudge facts,” said Claver-Carone.
According to several international news reports, the IDB Executive Board met this week to examine complaints against the IDB president and decide whether to open an official investigation against him.
A Reuters report quoted a source at the IDB with direct knowledge of the matter who indicated that the directors had debated the possibility of hiring an outside firm to investigate the allegations and asking Claver-Carone to temporarily step aside.
Claver-Carone, who boasts of transforming the financial institution since he took up the post in October 2020, urged the staff to stay focused on their work, as he attributed a lot of the bank’s successes over the past year to their “hard work”.
“I would love to present to all of you today that direct evidence which I have, not circumstantial, not hearsay, not anonymous, the direct evidence of truth, but I am going to respect what should be a confidential process according to the rules of the bank and the potential for an alleged investigation,” he said.
“Nonetheless, I do hope that I am given the opportunity to officially present my case and information so we can lead by example,” he added.
During his presentation, the IDB president pointed to steps he has taken to help reduce the operating costs of the Washington-based development financing institution by millions of dollars, which he said included getting rid of private jet and chauffeurs for top executives.
The former White House official also boasted of increasing the number of female employees at the IDB.
He said “We were well on our way to the 21st century.”
He however lamented that there was now a campaign that aims “to thrust our process, not back to the 20th century, but to the 13th century, prior the passage of some due process”.
He said the so-called campaign coincidentally began a day after the IDB’s annual meeting where the governors approved a capital increase for IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the IDB. (MM)
