Endgame emerges as Wolfowitz fights to stay on at World Bank [View All]

[cal04]

Paul Wolfowitz's fight to save his job is set to continue until at least early next week. Notwithstanding repeated declarations of support from the White House, intense diplomatic manoeuvring between the US and Europe still seems likely to end with the departure of the beleaguered World Bank president.

In a small concession, the bank's executive board has extended until tonight its deadline for Mr Wolfowitz to explain himself, after a special committee found that he had violated ethics rules by arranging a promotion and big pay rise for his partner Shaha Riza when she moved from the bank to the State Department in 2005.

He will then have the opportunity to address the board in person before a final decision is made. The choices lie between a reprimand - the mildest punishment - a vote of no confidence, or outright dismissal. This third, and harshest, option still appeared unlikely last night, despite the intense hostility to the former deputy defence secretary from many board members.

European countries led by Germany, which currently chairs the bank board, may be pressing hardest for Mr Wolfowitz to step down but they do not want a head-on confrontation with the Bush administration. This would inevitably re-open scars left by the Iraq war, of which the World Bank chief was an important architect.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2530797.ece