The World Bank is investigating the handling of a $1 billion loan from China to help fund poor countries, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The global development lender was quick to stress that the probe did not implicate Beijing, which increasingly is an important force in the bank's activities.
But the probe will examine how key bank units, including the International Development Association and International Finance Corporation, created an unusual structure to accomodate the Chinese loan.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim confirmed the probe in an internal message to staff yesterday that was obtained by AFP.
He noted that some staff "have raised concerns over the handling of transactions related to a concessional loan."
"Management took these concerns seriously and promptly retained an outside law firm with expertise in conducting internal reviews, to ensure a careful and impartial fact finding," he wrote.
Kim stressed that the review is looking at internal processes and policy compliance, with "no suggestion" of staff misconduct.
"The concerns expressed also did not question the intentions of any donors that provided concessional loans," he added.
The probe, to be conducted by the locke lord Edwards law firm, will come on top of months of turmoil within the bank over the reforms Kim has introduced since becoming president in July 2012.