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| April 12, 2007 - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz speaks at the opening press briefing of the Spring Meetings. © Simone D. McCourtie/World Bank |
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is struggling to hold onto his job on Friday after the Bank’s board issued a damaging finding of facts on his role in assisting his partner Shaha Riza, to gain special pay terms on secondment from the Bank. The board pledged to ”move expeditiously to reach a conclusion on possible actions to take.”
The board said that its "consideration of the matter” would "focus on all the relevant governance implications for the Bank”.
This weekend, the semi-annual joint meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, will take place in Washington D.C.
The board's warning of further action, piles the pressure on Wolfowitz to resign ahead of possible censure by the board.
On Thursday, Wolfowitz issued a public apology as the Bank's staff association passed a vote of no-confidence in him.
The former US Deputy Defense Secretary's future at the Bank depends on the position of the White House but European countries have taken a strong position on Wolfowitz's behaviour given the evidence of hypocrisy when compared with his strong emphassis on ethics on the part of the Bank's staff..
The controversy relates to Wolfowitz’s personal involvement in securing a promotion and a pay rise far in excess of the normal maximum associated with such a promotion for Riza, a bank official with whom he was romantically involved, as part of a secondment package to the US State Department.
The board statement confirms that that in August 2005, Wolfowitz "sent the vice-president, human resources, a written memorandum directing him to reach agreement with the staff member and specifying in detail the terms and conditions.”
The existence of the memorandum, dated August 11 2005, was first revealed by the Financial Times.
Today's statement further notes that the then ethics committee "had not been involved in the discussions with the concerned staff member. Neither did it find that the terms and conditions of the agreement had been commented on, reviewed or approved by the ethics committee, its chairman or the board.”
However, the statement does say that the ethics committee originally advised Wolfowitz to consider a secondment for Riza as one of a number of possible ways to comply with Bank rules that prohibit employees from working under the authority of a colleague with whom they are romantically involved.
It also states that the board suggested that Riza could be offered a promotion as compensation for the disruption to her career.
The board released the full report of the subcommittee that investigated the Riza secondment and promised to release all relevant documents.
