Wolfowitz fate overshadows finance chiefs' meetings

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Reuters

Wolfowitz fate overshadows finance chiefs' meetings

By Lesley Wroughton 2 hours, 32 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fate of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz overshadowed meetings of global finance chiefs on Saturday, as Britain said his actions had damaged the bank and critics stepped up calls for him to quit.

As the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank kicked off, Bank staff and anti-poverty activists prepared to stage a protest calling for the resignation of Wolfowitz over his role in the promotion of his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, for which he has apologized.

<snip>

"The board must act quickly if it wants to restore confidence in this institution," said Amy Gray of international development group ActionAid. "With Wolfowitz, the World Bank is losing face. If it wants its policies on corruption to be taken seriously, it must first look within."

The scandal has revived antagonism over Wolfowitz's appointment to the World Bank in mid-2005 by the U.S.administration and lingering resentment over his role in the U.S. invasion of Iraq while he was deputy defense secretary.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070414/wl_nm/imf_global_dc_1

[Raven]

1. Bad for Wolfowitz that this came before a weekend

when all these folks are meeting. The longer this festers the worse it becomes. Any decent human would have resigned by now but I'm betting that wolfowitz is betting on Bush and I'm betting that these World Bank countries would love to stick it to Bush. Wolfowitz stands for everything that is wrong with this Administration. Wolfowitz won't outlast the Nor'easter we're about to get.

[Kathryn STone]

3. Will you still need me when I'm 64?(which he turns this December)

God I would have thought that a guy would have gotten more wisdom or just a sense of social responsibility by that age.
Maybe he should just keep it in his pants.
(p.s. look at his profile on wikipedia.org)

[MethuenProgressive]

2. "Booooo! Hissssssssssssss!"

:toast: to those who had the courage to boo and hiss him!

[laststeamtrain]

4. ...and chant, "Resign, resign." Bankers chanting? Booing, hissing? What's next?

The accountants revolt? They'll strike. They'll start reversing the columns of debits & credits to sabotage the system.

[C_U_L8R]

5. The anticipation could drive Wolfie to comb lick

lick lick lickity lick

got stink hair?

[struggle4progress]

6. Wolfowitz Weakened as U.K., Germany Criticize Him (Update1)

By Simon Kennedy and William McQuillen
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- ~snip~

Wolfowitz has ``damaged the bank,'' Hilary Benn, the U.K. development secretary, said today. His German counterpart, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said he must ``decide for himself whether he can continue to fulfill his duties credibly.'' ~snip~

``It's not the World Bank's credibility but Mr. Wolfowitz's credibility that's on the line,'' Swiss Economics Minister Doris Leuthard told reporters. ``He's never been a popular person. We have to find a solution quickly.'' ~snip~

Benn, Wieczorek-Zeul and French Finance Minister Thierry Breton refrained from praising Wolfowitz, the former U.S. deputy defense secretary who was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005. Breton, asked yesterday if he had confidence in Wolfowitz, said: ``I have confidence in the bank.'' ~snip~

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=apxaD03pbRcw&refer=home


Former legal adviser challenges Wolfowitz
Financial Times, 14.04.2007
By Eoin Callan and Krishna Guha in Washington

~snip~ Pressure on Mr Wolfowitz mounted when the bank’s former top legal officer confirmed to the FT that he told the board’s ethics committee there was no serious legal risk to the bank if it offered Ms Riza a severance package, rather than the attractive secondment deal that Mr Wolfowitz eventually dictated, challenging one justification Mr Wolfowitz gave a day earlier for his actions. ~snip~

John Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidate and former senator, said: “America’s ability to lead in the fight against global poverty is undermined by Paul Wolfowitz at the helm of the World Bank. He should resign.”

Ken Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, told the FT: “President Wolfowitz’s credibility is so badly compromised that the board is . . . going to have to force him to resign.” ~snip~

http://biznes.onet.pl/14,1404958,,3255,ft.html

[struggle4progress]

7. Wolfowitz seeks backing of African leaders

... By Steven Weisman
Published: April 14, 2007

... Several bank officials, asking not to be identified in order to avoid reprisals, charged that Wolfowitz was seeking backing from Africa as a kind of political base ...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/15/america/web-0415bank.php

[laststeamtrain]

8. Thanks for the updates. n/t

[laststeamtrain]

9. Wolfowitz's Allies Regroup but Leave Questions Unanswered (IPS)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37354

[samsingh]

10. he should do the honorable thing and resign

wait honor, repug - doesn't go together.

[struggle4progress]

11. Wolfowitz Clashed Repeatedly With World Bank Staff

Tenure as President Has Been Rocky

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 15, 2007; Page A12

As he prepared to sign a five-year contract as World Bank president in the spring of 2005, Paul Wolfowitz sent his personal lawyer, Robert Barnett, to negotiate the terms. Barnett, whose high-profile clients have included some of Washington's biggest political and media figures, did not mince words in his meetings with the bank's legal team.

Wolfowitz wanted more than a dozen amendments to the standard contract that had served the institution for decades, Barnett told them, including special dispensation for the books he would write and the paid speeches he planned to deliver, and a salary on par with that of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who was traditionally more highly paid.

A final sticking point, conveyed in all capital letters in an e-mail to then-general counsel Roberto Dañino, was Wolfowitz's insistence that, while he had earlier offered to recuse himself from all office matters involving bank employee and his girlfriend Shaha Riza, he insisted on retaining retain "professional contact" with her -- something that the executive board later determined was a clear conflict of interest under personnel rules.

The Riza issue has come back to haunt Wolfowitz, as the bank's executive board is now considering what to do about revelations -- contained in documents it released Friday -- that Wolfowitz resolved the issue by personally arranging a bank salary and promotions for her in a temporary State Department post. ~snip~

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401564.html