'No code of ethics violated' says OAS Secretary General Almagro

The chief of the Organisation of American States is facing an internal probe into allegations he had a romantic relationship with a staff member that may have violated the organisation's ethics policies, a media report said.

Secretary-General Luis Almagro, 59, had formed a "long-running" consensual relationship with a Mexican-born woman two decades his junior.

Delegates of the democracy-building organisation gathered in Lima earlier this week for the group's annual meeting.

Almagro, who has led the Washington-based OAS since 2015, previously served as foreign minister in his native Uruguay. He is separated from his wife, the report added.

The allegations came weeks after the Inter-American Development Bank fired President Mauricio Claver-Carone following allegations, which he denied, that he'd had a relationship with a subordinate.

The OAS could not immediately be reached for comment and Reuters could not independently verify the report.

In a comment to The Associated Press, an OAS spokesman denied that Almagro was ever the woman's supervisor, though she was reported to have had the title "adviser" to the secretary-general in earlier online biographies.

"Almagro never took part in any decisions regarding this staff member's interests within the OAS," spokesman Gonzalo Espariz is quoted as having said.

The woman, who was not identified, has been on unpaid leave since June, the report added.