In a letter to the International Monetary Fund Executive Board that was made public on Thursday, attorney Lanny Breuer from Covington & Burling raised concerns about potential errors in the investigation report conducted by WilmerHale. WilmerHale was hired by the World Bank's board to look into data irregularities in the "Doing Business" rankings of country business climates. The report accused Georgieva, who was World Bank CEO in 2017, of exerting undue pressure on staff to manipulate data to benefit China's ranking while the bank was seeking support from Beijing for a capital increase. Georgieva has denied these claims. Breuer, who previously worked for the US Justice Department and was a special counsel to former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial in 1999, has made these new allegations as Georgieva seeks support from the IMF board. The board has interviewed both Georgieva and WilmerHale and will continue deliberations on the matter on Friday. France has announced its intention to support Georgieva at the board meeting, according to a source from the French Finance Ministry. Georgieva denied the accusations of pressuring staff to manipulate data and stated that her statements were taken out of context by WilmerHale. She released a detailed statement to the board on Thursday. Georgieva's attorney, Breuer, mentioned that she has not been notified of being under investigation or given a chance to review and respond to the findings, as outlined in Staff Rule 3.00 which governs the World Bank Office of Ethics and Business Conduct procedures. The WilmerHale report stated that their investigation initially focused on board officials in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Board Officials, which is different from the staff rule mentioned by Breuer. The firm emphasized that they followed all World Bank rules during the investigation and informed Dr. Georgieva that the report would be presented to the World Bank Board, with the possibility of disclosure of any information she provided. According to an email from WilmerHale to Georgieva in July, the firm was conducting a review into irregularities in Doing Business data and staff misconduct under World Bank Staff Rule 3.00. As the World Bank CEO in 2017, Georgieva was considered a member of staff rather than a board official. The email sent to Georgieva requested her to speak with investigators because they believed she may have helpful information for their review, stating that she was not a subject of their investigation. The World Bank's General Counsel's office confirmed that the investigation into the Doing Business 2018 and 2020 reports followed all World Bank rules.