U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) questions Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, during a Senate Foreign Relations Commit

U.S. Senators call for 'full accountability' in World Bank data controversy

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2021-09-28 01:00:04

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) questions Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 27, 2021. Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The top Democrat and Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee have urged President Joe Biden to "ensure full accountability" over a World Bank data-rigging controversy that has embroiled International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva.

The panel's chairman, Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, and Republican Senator James Risch, said in a letter released on Monday that Biden should direct the U.S. Treasury Department to "do their due diligence with all due haste and, as necessary, ensure full accountability."

Georgieva, who has been the IMF's managing director since April 2019, is pushing back against allegations in a World Bank outside investigation report that when she was the bank's CEO in 2017, she applied "undue pressure" on staff to make data changes that boosted China's rankings in the World Bank's flagship "Doing Business" report on country investment climates.