Washington, United States

A leaked recording suggested that the World Bank staff were apparently asked to give special treatment to the son of the high-ranking official after support was extended by the US Treasury to the $13 billion increase in the organisation's funding, as per a report published in The Guardian.

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As per reports, the whistleblower has claimed that the 2018 staff meeting's recording suggests that the colleagues were asked by a senior manager to give special treatment to the son of David Malpass, who is currently the World Bank's president but at that time was serving the US Treasury under Donald Trump.

In the recording, the bank staff can be heard as calling 22-year-old Robert Malpass as a “prince” and “important little fellow”, who is likely to go “running to daddy” if things don't go well.

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Campaigners said that the leaked recording can undermine the mission of the World Bank, which includes combating the declining public trust in civic institutions through the promotion of good governance.

As per the report, the staff were informed that Robert was the son of David Malpass, the then undersecretary of the US Treasury, who had played an important role in guiding the World Bank in securing an endorsement for the multibillion-dollar capital injection.

The recordings further suggest that this may not be the first time an important global figure's family member was hired by the international development bank.

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“Remember we had a ‘prince’ before … that is a subject for happy hour,” a staff member can be heard as saying. The World Bank stated that the contents revealed in the recording cannot be confirmed but added it was “both false and absurd” to draw a connection between the multibillion-dollar capital increase and an entry-level hire.

“We have a prince that is coming, that is joining us, on 16 July,” said a senior manager, one month before Robert Malpass started working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is the World Bank Group's commercial-terms lending arm that lends to private sector businesses.

“I want to forewarn all of you this young, bright person is the son of the undersecretary of the US Treasury, which was beneficial for us in getting the capital increase,” the manager stated.

The manager then explains that Robert, who recently finished his undergraduate in economics from Cornell University, needs to be treated like a “very important little fellow” that might otherwise go “running to daddy” if things went wrong.

“We need to manage his education and we need to manage the lemon,” said the manager, referring to the pending role of Robert in the department.

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“So we need to get work out of him, but we also need to make sure that he sees the world,” he can be heard as saying. When staff asks if Malpass intends to return to higher education, the manager replies “annoying[ly], he’s probably going to stay a year, or two years, and then he’s going to move to a hedge fund someplace. But in those two years, we need to make him happy and valuable and we need to teach him and so forth, all right? So that then I can go to his daddy, and then I get some bonus points.”

The whistleblower said that the leaked recording questions the way the World Bank Group is governed and how its largest member state influences it.

“The US, as the leading shareholder of the World Bank Group, is obligated to contribute to better corporate governance of the institution, but failed to do so. Special treatment destroys the morale of employees, especially among those in junior positions who suffer a lack of opportunities of advancement,” the whistleblower said. 

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