According to the three-page letter sent to the Bank by his Saint Lucia-based lawyers, Leon is of the opinion that “he will never be treated fairly” after being sent on administrative leave in January.
“It is also evident that the Bank has lost all trust and confidence in our client by the failure of the Board of Governors to prevent the continued violations of its Charter, policies, rules, and regulations with regard to its elected President. Our client has therefore made the extremely difficult decision to resign his elected position of the President of the Bank with immediate effect,” the letter read.
The lawyers have given the regional financial institution until May 4 “to negotiate an amicable separation” indicating also that their correspondence should be viewed “as our client’s pre-action protocol letter” regarding the entire situation.
In January it was disclosed that Dr Leon, had been sent on administrative leave until April this year, as “an ongoing administrative process” continued at the region’s premier financial institution.
The CDB has remained mum on the circumstances surrounding the decision to send the Saint Lucian-born economist on administrative leave, with the acting president Isaac Solomon, confirming at a bank news conference in February that “there is an internal administrative process involving the president.”
Leon’s attorneys, however, state that the investigations made against their client have not been clear.
“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 said that Leon’s suspension ended on April 14th 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 the 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 laptop, iPad and iPhone so that he could carry out his duties as President.
“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”.
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 (IMF). He had succeeded the Jamaican-born Dr Warren Smith who retired in 2021 after serving as president for 10 years.