By Cassandra Garrison and Andrea Shalal

MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON – Directors of Inter-American Development Bank met anonymously to talk about accusations that the president of the bank, Mauricio Clever-Carone, had an intimate relationship with a staffer. Three sources claimed this was confirmed by three people.

According to one source, an IDB employee with direct knowledge said that directors discussed the possibility of hiring outside firms to investigate the claims and asked Claver-Carone temporarily to step down.

Two other sources confirm that 14 bank directors, the general counsel of the bank and the deputy secretary discussed the allegations in a virtual meeting lasting two and a half hours on Tuesday.

A source at the bank said that the directors met once again Thursday to create a resolution in order to employ an external company to investigate the claims. According to the source at the IDB, Claver-Carone was not removed by the directors.

Reuters could not confirm claims regarding the alleged relationship. If verified it would be in violation of bank rules.

Both the allegations and meetings were not addressed by both IDB staff when they were asked.

Claver-Carone was a former White House official who was nominated by Donald Trump to fill the IDB role. He did not return repeated calls or emails seeking comments.

Claver Carone worked under Trump in the role of senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, before moving to IDB 2020.

While the IDB, a small development bank, is not as important in Latin America than the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, it plays a significant role. The bank data shows that it contributed $23.4 billion to financing and other financial commitments for Latin America and Caribbean between 2021 and 2021.

According to a bank source who was privy to the email, Claver-Carone was accused of having a relationship with an anonymous email that was sent to the board and bank’s ethics officers a week ago. Reuters did not receive the email.

One source claimed that Claver-Carone was also indicted along with the staffer for misusing IDB funds. However, they did not provide any further details.

According to the IDB, its ethics code is posted on their website: “You can’t participate in any employment-related decision about someone you are intimately involved with.”

These allegations were made just weeks before the annual bank meeting. They also come as Claver Carone seeks to increase capital for IDB Invest (the bank’s private sector arm).

In order to raise capital, support would be required from the United States (the bank’s largest shareholder) and other members. At a time of tight resources, due in part to the COVID-19 Pandemic, War in Ukraine and increasing climate shocks. Donald Trump’s nomination of Claver-Carone to the IDB position was opposed by leading Democrats.

When asked for comment on the IDB Meeting, the U.S. Treasury Department refused to answer.

According to a source familiar with the meeting, the resolution should be submitted to IDB’s board members of governors. Most of them are ministers of finance from member countries. This will allow directors to open an investigation.

According to a bank source, when the process is complete, the results will be made available for the governors.

Claver-Carone was a Cuba-hawk and faced strong opposition from some members states. These included Argentina and Mexico that resisted the idea of breaking IDB’s 1959 tradition of having an IDB president who is not from Latin America.

Claver-Carone dismissed the push-back https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latam-usa-bank-idUSKBN24Z1DH at the time, saying he had “overwhelming” support, citing public backing from 15 countries and six more privately.