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IMF Decision on Georgieva’s Fate to Come as Early as Monday

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), gestures as she speaks during a panel session on the closing day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 21 - 24.

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board plans to deliberate Monday over the fate of the lender’s chief, Kristalina Georgieva, after discussions Sunday with her and the law firm that alleged improper actions in her previous job at the World Bank, according to a person familiar with the talks.

The board, with 24 directors representing the fund’s 190 member nations, is trying to complete its review as the IMF and World Bank start their annual meetings — where finance ministers and central bankers from across the world will gather in Washington starting on Monday, with dozens of events planned.

The board meeting on Sunday with law firm WilmerHale ran for several hours in the afternoon, and directors were still set to meet with Georgieva on Sunday, the person said on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

The IMF press office declined to comment. Reuters reported earlier that the board deliberations were scheduled for Monday.

On Friday, spokesman Gerry Rice said that the board met that day and agreed to “request more clarifying details with a view to very soon concluding” consideration of the matter.

The board met with WilmerHale and Georgieva last week as well. The members are discussing an audit that the law firm did for the World Bank, based on a review of 80,000 documents and more than 30 interviews. It accuses Georgieva of pressuring staff to manipulate data for the annual “Doing Business” report to benefit China when she was a top official at the development lender. Georgieva, who joined the IMF in 2019, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

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Treasury Department officials last week were debating whether the U.S., the IMF’s largest shareholder, should ask Georgieva to resign, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation.

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