Forty days after arriving in the United States, Abraham Weintraub was elected on Thursday (30) as executive director on the World Bank's board of directors. The former Minister of Education said he had already attended meetings at the institution, but will now officially take office in the first week of August.
"This week I already had some meetings, I am getting ready. Next week I will officially start as director of the World Bank," said Weintraub in a video published on his social networks on Tuesday (28), two days before the election results.
The approval of his name was already expected. Brazil has a majority of the group's voting power that it makes up with eight other countries - Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Philippines, and Trinidad & Tobago.
The vote ended on Thursday (30), and the official result was released in a statement by the bank. However, the institution did not say whether the former minister was unanimously elected or if there was any vote against it, to "preserve the integrity" of the election.
Weintraub now begins bureaucratic procedures for a term that runs until October 31. It then needs to be renewed in the same process - nomination from the Brazilian government and approval by the multilateral group.
At the end of last month, the World Bank Staff Association asked the institution's ethics committee to investigate the former minister's stance and that his appointment be suspended pending investigations.
Officials claimed that Weintraub's behavior hurt the bank's reputation and was "totally unacceptable." He used prejudiced rhetoric towards China and minorities, in addition to his speech calling for the arrest of STF (Supreme Federal Court) ministers - in both cases, he is the target of Brazil's inquiries.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon