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The assembly of governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) dismissed its president, Mauricio Claver-Carone, on September 26, after an investigation concluded that he had an intimate relationship with a subordinate and treated him favorably, violating the institution practices.
The relationship with an employee and the favorable treatment she gave him, raising his salary several times, cost Mauricio Claver-Carone, an American, his position as president of the Inter-American Development Bank.
An “arbitrary” investigation according to him
The IDB’s assembly of governors decided to dismiss him with effect from this Monday, September 26, as indicated by the agency in a statement, after an investigation, carried out by the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, made it clear that he had violated the institution practices.
The highest authority of the IDB, made up of finance ministers from its 48 member countries, decided to dismiss him in an electronic vote that began last Friday. She will be replaced by the executive vice president, the Honduran Queen Irene Mejía Chacón, under the direction of the executive board, until a new president is elected.
The US official, the son of a Spaniard and a Cuban, with a career in the White House, the International Monetary Fund and the Treasury and known for his criticism of Cuba and Venezuela, has always denied the accusations against him and has stated that the investigation it is “arbitrary” and the result of a political ruse to remove him from his functions.
In recent days, in statements to the press, several bank sources accused Claver-Carone of not cooperating with the investigation and of criticizing it, in addition to refusing to hand over a mobile phone provided by the financial institution.
A controversial presidency
Mauricio Claver-Carone was promoted to the position by the then US President Donald Trump in 2020, thus breaking with the tradition that the position of this financial entity fell to a Latin American. Trump’s decision to present a candidate irritated Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico, by breaking that tacit pact.
These last few months have been convulsive, since the bank decided to open an independent investigation into Claver-Carone, after receiving an anonymous complaint about his intimate relationship with a subordinate. At the Summit of the Americas held in June, US President Joe Biden surprised by proposing an “ambitious reform” of the IDB, while senior officials avoided being photographed alongside Claver-Carone.
The IDB was born in 1959 and is one of the main sources of long-term financing for the economic, social and institutional development of Latin America and the Caribbean. The bank’s three main shareholders – the United States, Argentina and Brazil – together hold almost 53% of the voting rights.
