IMF board will grill Georgieva & investigators
Questioning on Monday, Tuesday
The International Monetary Fund’s executive board will intensify its probe of Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva this week by separately interviewing her and investigators who said she pressured World Bank staff to alter data to favour China.
The board will question lawyers from the Wilmerhale firm on Monday about their World Bank investigation report, three people familiar with the plans said. The report alleged that Georgieva, as the bank’s CEO in 2017, applied undue pressure on staff to alter data in the flagship “Doing Business” report to benefit China. Georgieva, who has strongly denied the accusations, will appear in person before the board on Tuesday, two of the sources said.
The report contends Georgieva and former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s office pressured staff to manipulate data so China’s global ranking in the “Doing Business 2018” study of investment climates rose to 78th from 85th.
Process, evidence
One person familiar with the plan said the board was expected to question the
Wilmerhale team about its investigatory process — the scope of its assignment, how it conducted the probe and how the decision was made to publish the results, which came with little prior notification to Georgieva.
Other questions will seek details on the links drawn in the report between the changes to the “Doing Business” data inputs for China and the capital-raising campaign, which resulted in a $13 billion increase to the World Bank’s paid-in capital in 2018 that boosted China’s shareholding. Another source said there also will likely be questions over discrepancies between witness interviews, the report’s conclusions and later public statements from at least one person interviewed. Shanta Devarajan, the former World Bank economist who oversaw the “Doing Business” 2018 report released in October 2017, said he never felt pressure from Georgieva, and that the Wilmerhale team used only half of his statements.