The charges were brought by Bob Picard, the former head of communications at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, after he resigned from the institution this week and hastily left China amid fears for his safety, according to the report. France Media Agency.
Picard, who is in Tokyo, said the bank was controlled by members of the Chinese Communist Party and mainly financed projects in Beijing’s interests.
Indeed, the Canadian official added, the bank is a “supplier” of the PRC’s geopolitical goals. “I think it serves China’s interests,” he said.
Picard told AFP that the bank has directed its loans mainly to countries participating in China’s “Belt and Road” initiative.
Following tweets in which Picard attacked the institution, Asian China Bank said the accusations were “baseless and disappointing”, noting that it was “proud of its multilateral mission”.
Also, China has defended the “transparency” of the Asian Investment Bank.
“The AIIB adheres to the principles of openness, meritocracy and transparency in hiring and managing its employees,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in response to a question on the matter. .
The Beijing-based bank aims to finance infrastructure projects in Asia.
It was created in 2016 with the aim of countering Western influence in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
It comprises 106 member states, including France, Germany, Canada and Australia, but the United States is not a member and has chosen not to participate, but it expresses concern about its management and its transparency.
By contrast, Picard confirmed that he was warned, after joining the bank in March 2022, “not to get into a confrontation with party members because they are powerful”.
The former official declined to reveal the identity of the source of the warning, but admitted raising concerns about the role and influence of party members in writing a month ago.
He said: “The answer was, in essence: don’t take any chances on this.”
According to the former communications officer, “there are many foreign executives at the forefront of management”. Within the bank, he added, “there is a parallel system to the overall decision-making structure.”
Canada freezes cooperation
After her resignation, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that Ottawa would “immediately cease all activities within the bank.”
She added that her ministry would be instructed “to promptly investigate the allegations raised and Canada’s involvement in the activities of the Asian Investment Bank.”
Picard said he was “happy that his country’s government is taking seriously the problem of the Chinese Communist Party’s lack of transparency and excessive influence over what is supposed to be a multilateral organization”.
“I think the Canadian government will realize that ultimately the interests of this bank do not align with theirs,” he added.
“Why should Canada participate in an organization that ultimately makes China more powerful?” he asked.
For several years, Sino-Canadian relations have been strained, especially since the Huawei crisis and the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the group’s financial director, followed by the imprisonment of Canadian citizens in China.
Tensions finally came to a head after the existence of secret Chinese police stations on Canadian soil was revealed and accusations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections.
Previously, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank faced similar charges.
In 2017, the foundation’s vice-president, Thierry Longimar, confirmed that the bank was not “a tool of the Chinese state”.
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