The IDB dismisses its president for violating the bank's rules in his relationship with an employee

The relationship with an employee and the favorable treatment she gave him has cost Mauricio Claver-Carone his job.

The assembly of governors of the Inter-American Development Bank has decided to remove him as president after an investigation made it clear that he had violated the institution's practices.

The report by the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell made it clear how Claver-Carone not only had an illegal love affair with an employee, but also raised her salary several times to keep her happy.

The IDB's board of directors had already unanimously recommended Clever-Carone's dismissal last week.

The Joe Biden government had withdrawn its support for an appointment from the last stage of Donald Trump's presidency and that was already controversial because until now the position of president was traditionally held by one of the borrowing countries, that is, a Latin American.

The United States is the country with the most voting power in the IDB, in accordance with its participation in the capital, slightly above 30%.

In the appointment of Claver-Carone, Washington finally achieved a majority support of 67%, which in practice showed a great division among the rest of the countries.

Without the support of Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the die, Claver-carone's die, was cast.

The governors of the bank had to vote on the proposal for dismissal, with the deadline of this Tuesday and without the need for the vote to be in a meeting, but rather it could be sent remotely.

This Monday the necessary votes have already been produced for the removal of Claver-carone, according to sources cited by various news agencies.

The IDB did not answer a request for information from EL PAÍS and has not yet officially made public the dismissal of its president.

It is also not yet clear when the new replacement appointment will take place, which must be agreed upon by the member countries of the IDB, the development bank of Latin America.

“The climate of fear of retaliation among staff and borrowing countries that [Claver-Carone] has created has eroded the confidence of Bank staff and shareholders and necessitates a change in leadership,” a spokesperson said last week. of the Treasury Department in statements to the

agency .

The content of the report, revealed this Wednesday by EL PAÍS, maintains that the president and the chief of staff had a romantic relationship, something prohibited by the internal politics of the multilateral organization.

Not only that, in these two years, the woman, J.B, got two pay raises.

The president denies all the accusations, but the account of the facts that the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell has compiled in its investigation, including some quite explicit messages, leave little room for doubt.

In addition, Claver-Carone has not allowed investigators access to his mobile phone or email messages, despite claims that he has fully cooperated with the investigation.

The report also includes that fear of reprisals referred to by the Treasury Department.

"There is evidence to support the conclusion that they had a romantic relationship before joining the Bank and that the relationship may have continued during their employment," the report says.

In less than a year, the president approved two salary increases for J.B, the first one upon arrival.

The woman was hired on September 23, 2020 for a net annual salary of $287,000 (a similar figure in euros at the current exchange rate).

A week later, on October 1, Claver-Carone approves a 20% increase, up to $350,000.

In July 2021, the president signs a new increase of 20%, up to 420,000 dollars.

Despite all the findings against him, Claver-Carone released a long statement on Tuesday in which he argued that what endangered the IDB's reputation was the investigation and not its conduct.

“It is the first time in the history of any multilateral development bank that this kind of process has been carried out, where an elected leader has been the subject of an arbitrary investigation without any formal complaint within the administrative rules of the organization, and that was initiated on the basis of anonymous and unsubstantiated complaints.

It's unprecedented," he complained.

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