WASHINGTON - A deputy to Paul Wolfowitz urged the World Bank chief on
Wednesday to resign in the interests of the institution during a meeting of the
bank's management, sources who participated in the meeting said.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz (L) arrives at the
Development Committee meeting during a final day of the IMF and World Bank
spring meeting in Washington, April 15, 2007. [Reuters]
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The sources told Reuters that World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler, a
bank veteran named by Wolfowitz as one of his two deputies a year ago, raised
the issue at a meeting of the bank's vice presidents.
Asked to comment, World Bank spokesman Marwan Muasher said: "I feel it is
inappropriate to comment on private meetings."
Wheeler, a former World Bank treasurer who joined the bank from the New
Zealand treasury, is widely respected in the institution.
He was one of the first career staffers Wolfowitz brought into his management
team after he took the helm of the bank in 2005 and came under fire for
surrounding himself with people he brought with him from the Pentagon and White
House.
Wheeler could not be reached for comment.
The World Bank is reeling from a controversy over leaked documents that show
Wolfowitz played a role in dictating the terms of a high-paying promotion for
his companion and bank employee Shaha Riza, before she was moved by the bank in
2005 to the State Department because of their relationship.
Wolfowitz has said he does not intend to resign and has apologized for his
handling of the matter, even as World Bank member governments worry that the
matter had damaged the credibility of the poverty-fighting institution and
dented staff morale.
The White House on Wednesday repeated that President George W. Bush still had
"full confidence" in Wolfowitz, a key Iraq war architect who left the Pentagon
in 2005 to become World Bank president.
"We still have full confidence, the president has full confidence in
President Wolfowitz," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.
The bank's 24-nation board is examining Wolfowitz's role in helping to
arrange the promotion for Riza, while the organization representing bank
employees has called for his resignation.
"I think the effort of the World Bank board should be to get to the facts,
treat it with fairness and think of the long-term effectiveness of the
institution," Fratto said.