A special World Bank panel has found that Paul Wolfowitz
breached ethics rules when he used his position as president to
secure a generous compensation package for his girlfriend, The
Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The determination after a month-long inquiry increased the
chances that the bank's board might reprimand Wolfowitz or even
call for his ousting, according to the Journal.
The Journal said the determination, to be put before the bank's
full board as early as today, is part of a larger, confidential
report on the pay-and-promotion package that Wolfowitz helped
arrange for Shaha Riza, a longtime bank employee, shortly after he
assumed the title of president in June 2005.
US officials were quoted as saying that they believe the report
could also cast some blame on the board's ethics committee and
other bank managers over how they handled the Riza matter.
How the report balances that blame, they said, could go a long
way toward determining Wolfowitz's fate.
The report came as a senior adviser to Wolfowitz, Kevin Kellems,
announced he will step down, in a move that underscored Wolfowitz's
increasingly tenuous grip on the top job of the global
poverty-fighting institution, the Journal said.
Kellems suggested that the controversy, which has grown into a
broader debate about Wolfowitz's leadership, has become a major
distraction and compromised his ability to do his job.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2007)
