Trump-Picked Inter-American Development Bank President Mauricio Claver-Carone Fired After Ethics Probe

After an ethics investigation showed that Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) president Mauricio Claver-Carone had an intimate relationship with one of his subordinates, the bank's board of governors voted to terminate him.

Through an electronic vote, the 48 governors of the IADB had until Tuesday to decide whether or not to fire Claver-Carone. The bank's board unanimously decided last week that it should terminate the institution's first American president in its 63-year history, the Associated Press reported.

However, by Monday afternoon, enough ballots had been cast to meet the necessary quorum. In a statement, the IADB said that in accordance with the bank's charter, Executive Vice President Reina Mejia will assume the role of acting president until a new leader is chosen.

Mejia is from Honduras and spent most of her professional career at Citibank in Central America.

Inter-American Development Bank Ex-President Mauricio Claver-Carone Considers Filing a Legal Action

According to Mauricio Claver-Carone, the investigation conducted by Davis Polk, a New York law firm, was severely flawed. The Trump-picked official also denied having a relationship with his subordinate.

Claver-Carone told AP on Monday that he was thinking about suing the international Latin America bank for allegedly hurting his reputation and going beyond the terms of his job contract. He also said the Biden administration failed to defend a citizen's right to due process.

He argued that he was never officially informed about the anonymous complaint that sparked the probe or given the option to correct errors in the investigators' secret report in a parting letter to the governors.

"The Bank has failed to meet the mark as a rules-based institution," he noted. He also said the bank's future is in jeopardy, adding that it is vital to ensure that "the ad hoc and arbitrary disregard for rules and procedures are never repeated," ABC News reported.

Mauricio Claver-Carone Issues With the Latin America Development Bank

The independent investigators, which comprised lawyers from the legal firm Davis Polk, reportedly found evidence to support allegations that Mauricio Claver-Carone had a relationship with his chief of staff since 2019 when the two held senior positions on the National Security Council.

The two allegedly drew up a "contract" on the back of a place mat while they dined in a steakhouse in Medellin, Colombia. It reportedly happened during the summer of 2019 while attending the Organization of American States' annual meeting.

AP reported that the contract, which investigators uncovered, allegedly outlined a plan for the two to divorce their spouses and get married. It also had a breach clause stating that failing to fulfill the terms would bring "sadness and heartbreak" that could only be mitigated by some "candlewax and a naughty box" from a Miami hotel.

Other evidence reportedly included the bank president sending a romantic poem to his chief-of-staff and having a 1 a.m. hotel room rendezvous with her. Claver-Carone also awarded her a 40% pay raises in violation of the bank's conflict-of-interest policies.

Claver-Carone has since disputed the report's accuracy, denouncing how the review was conducted but offered no hint that he was considering resignation.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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