Washington – World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, fighting accusations that threaten his job, has asserted that the bank’s ethics committee forced him to engineer a job transfer and a hefty raise for his girlfriend because the panel was afraid to confront an “extremely angry and upset” woman.
That argument, contained in Wolfowitz’s written response to a bank report accusing him of ethics violations, cast blame on the very group he approached for help in resolving a conflict of interest after he arrived at the bank in 2005.
The committee told Wolfo witz he could not directly supervise longtime companion Shaha Riza, who worked at the bank. By Wolfowitz’s account, the panel declined to oversee the necessary job transfer and compensation, ordering him to handle it.
“Its members did not want to deal with a very angry Ms. Riza, whose career was being damaged as a result of their decision,” Wolfowitz said. “It would only be human nature for them to want to steer clear of her.”
The panel chairman, he added, thought that “due to my personal relationship with Ms. Riza, I was in the best position to persuade her to take out-placement and thereby achieve the ‘pragmatic solution’ the committee desired.”
Wolfowitz also blamed Riza for his predicament, saying that her “intractable” position” in demanding a salary increase to make up for the disruption to her career forced him to give in to prevent a lawsuit.
A panel that has been investigating Wolfowitz’s conduct handed its final report Monday to the 24-member executive board that runs the bank. The report found Wolfowitz guilty of breaking ethics rules and called on the board to consider whether he can continue to lead the institution, said officials who have seen the document but would speak only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Wolfowitz is scheduled to appear before the board today. The board might begin deliberating on how to respond as soon as tonight.
What is the World Bank?
It was set up in 1944 to drive post-World War II reconstruction.
Today, it has 184 member countries and is responsible for promoting economic development and reducing poverty.
Since its inception, the World Bank has lent and given grants and credits worth $400 billion on projects such as highways and dams.
