World Bank Board To Decide Wolfowitz’s Fate

WASHINGTON, April 20 — The World Banks board of directors expressed great concern today about the mounting furor over the charges of favoritism now dogging the leadership of Paul D. Wolfowitz. But the board put off until next week the rendering of a judgment that could force Mr. Wolfowitz to resign as president of the bank.

With Mr. Wolfowitzs future growing deeper in doubt, officials at the bank said the governing board was divided over whether to deliver the equivalent of a vote of no confidence next week, or to take some softer action instead.

In an extraordinary chain of events, the 24 directors who govern the day-to-day workings of the bank and who represent different countries or clusters of countries convened Thursday to discuss Mr. Wolfowitzs fate and did not conclude their session until 1:30 a.m. today.

The officials said that the bank directors from Europe and Asia favored a harsh rebuke that would make it untenable for Mr. Wolfowitz to stay on, while directors from the United States, Canada and Japan have resisted that result. Directors from Latin America are said to be leaning toward a strong rebuke, but directors from Africa are known to have more mixed views.

The board issued a statement saying that they had wrestled with the current situation in the bank, which is of great concern, and would set up a process to deal with the situation urgently, effectively and in an orderly manner.

Translated, that meant that the board would decide what to do about Mr. Wolfowitz some time next week, officials said.

Mr. Wolfowitz welcomes the decision of the board to move forward and resolve this very important issue, according to a statement issued by his office today. He looks forward to implementing the recommendations of the board.

At the center of the debate at the bank over Mr. Wolfowitz is the disclosure last week that he had played a direct role in arranging a large salary increase, a promotion and a transfer to the State Department for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion, when he arrived at the bank in 2005.

Ms. Riza, who had been at the bank for seven years, was detailed to the State Department to avoid a conflict of interest in her being supervised by Mr. Wolfowitz, a former deputy secretary of defense under President Bush.

But bank officials said the matter of Ms. Riza had been seized upon by Mr. Wolfowitzs critics within the bank, who have grown uneasy and distrustful over many of his policies, from his aggressive campaign against corruption in borrower nations to his insular management style, which relies on a small circle of close aides who followed him to the bank from the Bush administration.

In addition, over the last week, bank officials have said that some of Mr. Wolfowitzs aides have tried to curtail the banks role in promoting family planning and contraceptives in poor nations, or have tried to prevent it from acting against climate change.

In a meeting with about 30 of his vice presidents earlier in the week, Mr. Wolfowitz denied that he was changing any of the banks family planning or environmental policies, according to officials who were present.

It was at that meeting that one of his two most senior deputies, Graeme Wheeler, said that Mr. Wolfowitz should resign, a statement that emboldened others throughout the bank. The extraordinary display of discord has riven the bank and produced an internal atmosphere that many describe as chaotic and emotional.

The question hanging over the bank today was whether the executive board, which usually decides matters by consensus, would put forward a judgment of Mr. Wolfowitzs conduct that would be so critical in tone that he or his supporters might find it impossible to remain on the job.

Bank officials who are close to the boards deliberating process said that in the unusual event of a formal vote, the result could be close, and could go either way. Even a in favor of Mr. Wolfowitz might, if the margin is close, make still leave his position untenable, many said.

Bush administration officials have repeatedly said that President Bush supports Mr. Wolfowitz. Officials at the bank say this statement is no more credible than the ones the White House offered last year for Mr. Wolfowitzs former boss at the Pentagon, Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was ousted after the November election.

More than 180 countries belonging to the World Bank have at least some voting share, but most have very tiny fractions of a percentage point. The largest shares are reserved for the United States, with 16.4 percent; Japan, 7.9 percent; Germany, 4.5 percent; France, 4.3 percent and Britain, 4.3 percent.

As a practical matter, all of Europe combined can outweigh the United States, but as the country with by far the largest share of the vote, the United States has traditionally wielded the most power on the board, and the bank adheres to the custom of allowing the United States to select the banks president.

Tag Cloud

External Information

Additional Information

Where Am I?