Posted on 04/14/2007 6:03:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz’s career was hanging by a thread today, but new revelations in internal bank documents released by the bank seemed as if they would provide him a stronger lifeline.
Since Thursday, the 24-member board of directors of the bank – the world’s largest and most influential anti-poverty institution — has been locked in meetings that might decide whether to censure or sanction Wolfowitz — or even demand his resignation.
The issue: whether Wolfowitz broke or bent bank rules in 2005 to enable a large salary hike for his girlfriend, a longtime bank staffer named Shaha Riza, at the same time that he helped to arrange her transfer to the U.S. State Department to avoid a conflict of interest. Her net wages jumped from $132,660 to $193,590 by 2006, which made her – by far — the highest paid person at the State Dept.
Amid the controversy, calls for his resignation have come from the bank’s staff association – which makes up half the bank’s 10,000 employees – as well as from anti-poverty organizations, former bank officials, and even the editorial board of the Financial Times.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Oh man! The World Bank has to be the home of the cushy sinecure!
But FOX News has analyzed more than 100 pages of internal bank documents dating to 2005 that paint a far more complex portrait of the case and suggests that the banks own ethics committee had known the terms of the settlement with Riza for at least a year.
The documents show that while Wolfowitz did indeed dictate the lucrative terms of Rizas salary to the banks human resources chief, he also took steps to try and determine if what he was doing was right seemingly trying to navigate his way through an arcane bureaucracy with a maze of unusual rules and procedures.
The documents also show that, while many board members have claimed that they only learned the details of Rizas case and salary hike this week in newspapers, the boards Ethics Committee has been fully aware of all the details since early 2006, when it conducted a probe and determined that the allegations did not appear appropriate for further consideration.
The documents paint a more sympathetic picture of Wolfowitz and his efforts to deal with the situation than whats been revealed in the press thus far. And they shine a light on the banks board as having far more knowledge of the case than members have let on in off-record talks with the media.
Get the conservative and hope it trickles down to President Bush.
Anything even faintly negative and tenousouly related to President Bush is “big” news. (Don’t tell them about that campaign worker who got a parking ticket last week.)
The libidots are making sure President Bush doesn’t get reelected.
It seems Wolf covered all the bases. There is no “there” there.
And yet again so many on the right snatched the barbed hook dangled by the liars and demanded he resign immediately. When will they ever learn?
I can’t imagine worse allies in a tough fight than many on the right.
Disgusting that Wolfowitz is MARRIED and has an ARAB girlfriend!!! He needs to GO!
Those calling for the investigation had better be careful lest the overall World Bank outrageously lucrative salary/perks packages become well known. /s.
This possiblity may be what is getting them to scale back their outrage.
He is NOT married.He has been divorced for years.
I don’t see any sign of them “scaling back” but their salaries and perks are outrageous.
ALL of the news I’ve read said he’s married!! Are you positive?
I am positive. He and his wife have been separated for a long time and divorced for years.
Thanks....I still don’t like him dating an ARAB when he was one of the architects of the war.
She’s Tunisian and apparently a very nice and intelligent woman, but in any event I must say I find that none of your business and certainly irrelevant to this manufactured scandal.
I still dont like him dating an ARAB when he was one of the architects of the war
Why? Are we in a police action against all 'Arabs'? His faulty presuppositions that argued for the police action in Iraq are somehow supposed to prevent him from dating anyone in a whole race of people?
I thought you were joking. The majority of Arabs, of many faiths, are our allies--as long as we don't abandon them (again) to tyrants. Wolfowitz's girlfriend is an asset.
Huh??
There's some kind of revolving door between the 2 broken institutions, State and the WB?
Don't we have enough high paid flunkies (undermining the US) at State? And Wolfie is a conservative?
Gets you wondering: How smart is Wolfie doing this when he knows he has enemies everywhere? Scrap the question, the guy does not have enough foresight to wear good socks to the mosque.
MENA = "Middle East and North Africa"
Seems Paul W. manages internal affairs
How do you know that?
This twit is making more money than Condi Rice at her own department????? Oh, she’s smart all right.
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