U.S. supports external probe into OAS chief
MIAMI — The head of the Organization of American States is facing growing calls, including from the Biden administration, for an external probe into possible misconduct tied to his intimate relationship with a subordinate.
The Washington-based group’s own inspector general in a memo this week said it is in the organization’s “best interest” to hire an outside firm to investigate allegations that Secretary General Luis Almagro may have violated the ethics code.
The inspector general’s recommendation was based on a report by The Associated Press finding that Mr. Almagro carried on a relationship with a Mexican-born staffer described online, including on the organization’s own website, as “head adviser” to the secretary general.
The inspector general said the AP report followed a loosely detailed, anonymous whistleblower complaint forwarded to his office by Mr. Almagro himself on June 3.
The peace and democracybuilding organization’s ethics
code prohibits managers from supervising or participating in decisions that benefit individuals with whom they are romantically involved.
The proposal to hire an outside firm to look into Mr. Almagro’s behavior is scheduled to be discussed Wednesday at the next meeting of the 34-member organization’s permanent council.
The U.S. — which has contributed about half of the organization’s $100 million in funding this year — has already expressed support for an external probe ahead of the meeting.
“We take these allegations seriously,” a State Department spokesperson told the AP in an email, adding that any ethics violation “should be investigated in a fair and impartial manner by an appropriate external investigative entity .”
But at least four members — Mr. Almagro’s native Uruguay, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and St. Lucia — have publicly backed draft resolutions that raise concerns about the cost of an external investigation at a time when the 600-employee hemispheric body is under pressure to cut spending.
Their benchmark is a recent investigation into similar misconduct allegations against the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Mauricio Claver-Carone, who was accused of having a long-running relationship with his chief of staff. The monthslong probe by American law firm Davis Polk determined that Mr. Claver-Carone had violated ethics rules by favoring the aide, paving the way for the president’s removal.
Repeated requests for Mr. Almagro’s comment on the possibility of an external probe sent to the secretary general’s press office went unanswered.
But unlike Mr. Claver-Carone, who went down denying he ever had a relationship with his aide, Mr. Almagro has said only that he never supervised the staffer or participated in any employmentrelated decisions like authorizing a pay increase. He previously has vowed to cooperate fully with any investigation by the organization’s top oversight authority.
Meanwhile, Mexico this week slammed Mr. Almagro for allegedly betraying members’ wishes by renewing a contract for the OAS’ ombudswoman, Neida Perez, days before a long-discussed plan to implement an open and competitive process for the leadership post was approved at the organization’s annual meeting.