An internal committee of the World Bank managed to launch an independent investigation into top brass ...
The World Bank ethics committee commissioned a law firm to sniff out what was going on.
Their report found that World Bank leaders, including then-Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva, applied "undue pressure" on staff to boost China's ranking in the bank's "Doing Business 2018" report:
- Georgieva, and a key adviser, Simeon Djankov, had pressured staff to "make specific changes to China's data points" and boost its ranking at a time when the bank was seeking China's support for a big capital increase.
- The report raises concerns about China's influence at the World Bank, and the judgment of Georgieva - now managing director of the International Monetary Fund - and then-World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
- Georgieva said she disagreed "fundamentally with the findings and interpretations" of the report and had briefed the IMF's executive board.
Kristalina Georgieva now heads the IMF. Oh dear.
"Pull my finger"