World Bank exerts further pressure on Wolfowitz
The World Bank's board expressed fresh concerns today regarding bank president Paul Wolfowitz's handling of a hefty pay package for his girlfriend.
The organisation promised to make a decision as soon as possible in a controversy that has led to calls for his resignation.
The 24-member board met for several hours with a special bank panel that during the past two days had heard from former Pentagon number two Wolfowitz, girlfriend and bank employee Shaha Riza and other present and former bank officials about Riza's promotion and pay rise to around $180,000 (€132,622).
In a statement afterwards, the directors said they "remain very concerned about the impact on the work of the bank group and are committed to the earliest possible resolution of the matter".
The board said the next step was for the special panel to "draw its conclusions from the information obtained from the documents and during the course of the interviews" and quickly submit a report to the directors.
Ultimately, the directors will decide what action should be taken, if any.
The board could ask Wolfowitz to resign, signal it lacks confidence in his leadership, reprimand him or take no action. There might also be a compromise under which Wolfowitz would be found to have acted in good faith, but he would resign later.
Yesterday the then chairman of the World Bank's ethics committee said it was not consulted and did not approve of Riza's pay package.
Ad Melkert, appearing before the special bank panel, said he rejected "any direct or indirect allegation or suggestion that the ethics committee was aware or should have been aware of the terms and conditions of Ms Riza's contract".
A day earlier, Wolfowitz had told the panel the bank's ethics committee had access to all the details surrounding the arrangement involving Riza "if they wanted it".
Melkert, who now works at the United Nations, said the committee was not consulted, nor did it approve details of Riza's compensation package, including "the large initial pay increase, the stipulation for subsequent annual increases and the stipulations for subsequent promotions".
