Wolfowitz defiant after promoting girlfriend

WORLD Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said he plans to stay in his job as employees demand he quit over his role in the promotion of his girlfriend.

“I believe in the mission of this organisation and I believe I can carry it out,” Wolfowitz told a press conference in Washington after the semiannual meetings of the bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“This is important work and I intend to continue it.’

World Bank directors are weighing Wolfowitz’s future as head of the largest development agency after finding that he personally dictated the terms of his partner’s salary increase and promotion. The raise was twice as large as allowed by bank rules, according to the Staff Association, which represents 13,000 employees and is demanding Wolfowitz quit.

Wolfowitz, 63, a former US deputy secretary of defence, apologised last week for granting the raise to Shaha Riza, an eight-year bank veteran who worked as a communications officer.

To comply with bank regulations that forbid one partner to report to another, she was transferred to the State Department while remaining on the bank payroll.

The probe of Riza’s promotion overshadowed the semi-annual meetings this weekend of the World Bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund.

Minutes before Wolfowitz’s remarks, the bank’s 24-member development committee said in a statement that the “situation is of great concern.”

“We have to ensure that the bank can effectively carry out its mandate and maintain its credibility and reputation as well as motivation of the staff,” the ministers from World Bank member states said.

In answering questions about whether he should step down, Wolfowitz referred several times to the committee’s statement and said he did not want comments he made to get in the way of the board’s work.

Top European officials were among those who expressed worry in closed-door sessions yesterday that Wolfowitz had tarnished the bank’s reputation by helping to secure a promotion for Riza.

At the start of speeches to the Development Committee, ministers from Britain and Germany reportedly said the bank’s reputation had been dented.

“We are critical but are awaiting development,” William Lelieveldt, Dutch Treasury spokesman, told Reuters.