The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has found no evidence to bear out accusations by its former communications chief that it is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party, the bank said on Friday, following an investigation.
In June, Bob Pickard said on Twitter he had resigned from the bank as it was “dominated by Communist Party” members and had a “toxic culture”, accusations the AIIB dismissed as baseless at the time.
Set up by President Xi Jinping in 2016 as a Chinese alternative to the World Bank and other Western-led multilateral lenders, the AIIB has 106 members worldwide, including Pickard’s home nation of Canada, which began its own inquiry.
The internal review confirms that AIIB’s governance structure functions as intended, to deliver an apolitical, constructive, balanced and consensus-oriented decision culture,” the bank said in a statement.
It added that it “found no evidence that staff membership in any political party from any country has interfered with bank personnel’s discharge of official duties”.
The AIIB said its review only uncovered one instance of Pickard referring to another staff member as belonging to the Communist Party.
That reference featured in an instant message exchange with an officer in the president’s office, questioning another colleagues’ competence, it added.
Asked for comment, Pickard told Reuters, “I do not believe this dishonest and inaccurate report seriously investigated my core concern of Communist Party influence at the bank.”
He said he had raised his concerns over the party’s influence with the bank’s president, Jin Liqun, who allegedly told him he was “being attacked by Party radicals for defending (Pickard) against old guard critics.”
Pickard added, “The report also contains verifiable errors.” One of these was a failure to mention his email, in which he raised his concerns about his safety as a Canadian national, he said.
The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bank president Jin Liqun said this year the AIIB would not get dragged into political disputes.
“There have never been allegations of political influence on the governance and policy or strategy discussions and decisions,” the bank’s report concluded.
