Caribbean Development Bank President, Dr. Hyginus 'Gene' Leon Resigns Amidst Legal Dispute

“We are uncertain at this stage of the significance of this as the OAC is not the Board of Directors and the Board of Directors is not the OAC. The meeting on April 16, 2024, was another breach of the Bank’s by-laws, the Charter and its policies,” the lawyers wrote.

In their letter, the lawyers noted that the Board of Governors has “never responded” to them regarding “our letters of complaint about the manner in which the investigation has been initiated, and allowed to continue.

“Our many letters consistently complained that the Bank has breached and is in violation of its own charter, laws, rules, regulations, and policies as regards [to] the conduct of an investigation pertaining to the elected president”.

They wrote that central to the complaint is that their client “has only been informed of the general, barebones nature of the wide complaints levelled against him”.

“These complaints continue to be bare, nonspecific, allegations without condescending to any particulars of the circumstances of the complaints including but not limited to dates, subjects, places or references to the evidence to support the grave and serious allegations made against our client”.

The lawyers wrote that the initiation of the investigations “was and continues to be in violation of Annex 10 of the ICA Procedures for Special Investigations, the Code of Conduct for Directors, and Uniform Principles and Guidelines for investigations and many other policies of the Bank and its Charter”.

The lawyers said in their view, the conduct of the investigation has been “unconventional, does not follow due process, and does not adhere to the best practices reflected in the more established Multilateral Development Banks.

“All of these complaints have been meticulously set out in our previous letters,” they said, adding “we are therefore of the opinion that the grave procedural irregularities fatally taint the initiation and continuation of the investigation, rendering it null and void ab initio”.

The lawyers said that Leon’s “wrongful suspension” ended on April 14 this year and that he endeavoured to return to work the following day “despite the embarrassment of his forced and unlawful leave and the humiliation of not having received any communication prior to the expiration of leave.

They said Leon also wrote the Director of Human Resources to have his access to the Bank restored and to have returned to him, his lap top, Ipad and Iphone ”so that he could carry out his duties as President.

“We also sent a letter to the Board of Governors suggesting an orderly process for our client’s return to work, consequent on the termination of the “forced” leave and wrongful suspension imposed on him.

“Our client received an email after the end of the working day from the Director, Human Resources, stating that he had no authority to so act, to restore our client’s access to the Bank, and the return of his devices”.

The lawyers said given the publicity “surrounding the President’s suspension for unethical conduct and the severe reputation damage so far to our client, the non-communicated, abrupt extension of leave is clearly a less than stellar commitment by the Bank to its adherence to integrity and transparency”.

The lawyers also made reference of a letter they received from the Washington-based law firm, Arnold & Porter indicating that the Board of Directors was convening a meeting on April 16 to determine whether to extend Leon’s paid administrative leave “pending the conclusion of the investigation”.

Leon is the sixth president of the regional development finance institution. He was elected at a special meeting of the CDB Board of Governors held on January 19, 2021, for a five-year term, and assumed office on May 4, 2021.

Leon heads a team of more than 200 employees headquartered in Bridgetown and came to the assignment with 35 years of experience in economics, financial policy development, and executive management, more than 20 of which were spent working with the Washington-based International Monetary Fund. He had succeeded the Jamaican-born Dr Warren Smith who retired in 2021 after serving as president for ten years. (CMC)