The executive directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved unanimously on Thursday to recommend firing a former official from the administration of former US President Donald Trump who heads the agency, a person familiar with the vote said.
The measure was taken after, in an investigation carried out at the request of the bank’s board of directors, it was determined that Mauricio Claver-Carone violated ethical standards by favoring a high-ranking collaborator with whom he had a romantic relationship, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press.
The bank’s 14 chief executives approved the recommendation to remove Claver-Carone during a closed-door meeting, according to the person, who insisted on anonymity. The final decision to fire him now rests with the finance officials who occupy a seat in the Board of Governors, who represent the 48 nations that make up this Washington-based institution.
Among those pushing for Claver-Carone’s ouster is the administration of US President Joe Biden, which has expressed concern over the official’s refusal to cooperate fully with an independent investigation.
“That he has created an environment of fear of retaliation among staff and borrowing countries has lost the confidence of Bank staff and shareholders, and necessitates a change in leadership,” a Treasury Department spokesman said.
Claver-Carone remained defiant after the vote, saying in a statement that replacing him would embolden China, which entered the bank under former US President Barack Obama.
“It is shameful that the United States made statements to the press before warning me and that it is not defending two Americans against what is clearly fabricated information,” he added.
The AP obtained the confidential investigation report by a law firm hired by the bank’s board to investigate an anonymous allegation of misconduct against Claver-Carone.
Investigators said it’s reasonable to conclude that he had a relationship with his chief of staff since at least 2019, when they both held senior positions on the National Security Council. They noted that the alleged relationship caused a US official at the time to warn that he posed a counterintelligence risk.
Exhibit A in the 21-page report is a “contract” that the two allegedly drew up on the back of a placemat in the summer of 2019 while dining at a steakhouse in Medellin, Colombia, where they were attending the annual meeting of the Organization of American States.
In it they allegedly describe a timetable for divorcing their spouses and getting married. There is also a “default clause,” which states that any breach of the terms would bring “sadness and heartache” that could only be mitigated with “candle wax and a naughty box” from a beachfront hotel in Claver’s native Miami. -Carone.
“We deserve absolute happiness. May only God separate this pact, ”they state in the contract, whose photo was provided to investigators by the woman’s ex-husband, who told them that she found the placemat in her bag when she returned from the trip.
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