World Bank panel finds Wolfowitz at fault - top aide resigns
Published May 7th, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz came under renewed pressure to resign as World Bank president on Monday as a bank committee formally transmitted its findings that he was guilty of a conflict of interest in arranging for a pay raise and promotion in 2005 to Shaha Ali Riza, his companion.
The contents of the panel’s findings were not made public. People who are familiar with the panel’s report said that it reviewed extensive documents and testimony before concluding that Wolfowitz breached his obligations in arranging for Riza’s reassignment from the bank to the State Department.
The report, as transmitted to Wolfowitz, did not recommend a punishment for Wolfowitz. Bank officials, speaking anonymously because the proceedings are supposed to be confidential, said that the special committee was still working Monday on what to recommend.
It was not clear whether the committee, consisting of 7 of the bank’s 24 board members, would remove Wolfowitz from his post or, more likely, express a loss of confidence in his leadership in a manner that might persuade him to resign. Bank officials say that a majority of the bank board has concluded that he should go.
In another sign of Wolfowitz’s difficulties, his top communications aide, Kevin Kellems, resigned on Monday, saying that “the current environment surrounding the leadership” at the bank made it “very difficult to be effective in helping to advance the mission of the institution.”
Related Articles
