By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The World Bank board turned down a request from Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF Managing Director to meet with her to discuss claims she may have pressured employees to alter data in 2017 as CEO of the bank. Two sources familiar with the matter said that this decision was made by the World Bank Board.

Georgieva hired an attorney to request the meeting. Georgieva sent a 17-page, handwritten letter Friday to the bank dean.

The attorney, Whitney Debevoise of Arnold & Porter, wrote that an investigation report prepared by the WilmerHale law firm for the board was improperly conducted, violated Georgieva’s due process rights, and based its fundamental conclusion on a false assumption, according to a copy of the letter viewed by Reuters.

WilmerHale concluded in September that officials including Georgieva applied “undue pressure” https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/world-bank-kills-business-climate-report-after-ethics-probe-cites-undue-pressure-2021-09-16 on bank staff to alter data to favor China in the bank’s Doing Business 2018 rankings.

Georgieva has denied the allegations and the board of the International Monetary Fund, which Georgieva has headed since October 2019, this month found no conclusive evidence https://www.reuters.com/business/imf-board-resume-debate-over-georgievas-future-later-monday-2021-10-11 to support accusations of wrongdoing.

A person who was briefed said that the World Bank board advised Debevoise not to meet with Georgieva because it does not have any role in WilmerHale’s separate investigation into potential wrongdoing among current or former bank employees, as well as Georgieva.

The report will be sent to human resources at the bank, and not to the board, in approximately two months.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Merza Hasan the dean of boards, chair of the board’s ethics committee, and head of an independent panel on governance rejected the request.

The sources claimed that the officials informed the board in a joint reply, which was described by Reuters. They stated they wouldn’t share Debevoise’s letter and earlier statements made by Georgieva. According to the sources, bank rules were meant to stop “any interference from any party or the board” during investigations into staff members.

Each of the three officers spoke with Debevoise separately.

The spokesperson for the World Bank declined to comment about the most recent developments and said that the bank had not been involved in investigations.

WilmerHale didn’t respond to any requests for comment regarding the Debevoise correspondence. Georgieva received a letter from the World Bank stating that the company’s report was compliant with the rules.