(EFE).- The former President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Cuban Mauricio Claver-Carone, described his dismissal as “arbitrary” and “political” in an interview with EFE, in which he reassured the reasons given for his dismissal constitute a case of defamation.
“They can fire me because I’m from the United States, because I’m a Cuban from Miami, because I’m a Republican or whatever they want. But not for that, it’s slander,” the former director complained in a phone call to Efe on Tuesday, just a day after his dismissal.
Claver-Carone described the process leading to his sacking as director of the IDB as opaque and a process with no rules that no one informed him about, insisting there was no evidence he had a romantic relationship with one of their employees.
The IDB itself on Monday confirmed the official dismissal of the incumbent director, after an investigation into the alleged love affair with a subordinate was conducted and Assembly governors voted to quit the institution, which bans intimate relationships between superiors and those close to them are subordinate.
“They can kick me out because I’m from the United States, because I’m a Cuban from Miami, because I’m a Republican or whatever they want. But not for that, that is slander.”
Contrary to other sources consulted by Efe, Claver-Carone denied that the report resulting from the investigation proved the relationship with the employee. “What the report says is that there is no violation of the rules,” he said.
Regarding the allegation that the then-director increased the salary of the employee in question, Claver-Carone told Efe that all members of the executive team received raises and that the woman he is accused of having had a relationship with received a salary increase put her on the same level as her predecessor.
“Everyone’s salary has been increased. And she was raised to bring it up to the level of her predecessor, who was a man and had less experience than her man with the same function and less experience, that’s sexism and machismo,” he said.
Finally, regarding the alleged existence of a paper tablecloth written and signed by Claver-Carone and the woman, a declaration of love that they wrote in a restaurant in Colombia during a work trip and evaluated in calligraphy by the investigative company that the former president denied its existence .
“What they presented was a distorted photo,” he noted.
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