The debate over Wolfowitz's guilt or innocence is now over. He was found to have violated World Bank rules when he gave special favors to his romantic interest Shaha Riza. Now the Bank is trying to save Wolfowitz's dignity and allow him to resign before being manually kicked out of his office. For the Bank to have to vote on his ouster would mean that divisions on the board would be exposed between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
From The New York Times:
The Europeans worked to arrange a quick exit for Mr. Wolfowitz as a special bank committee concluded that he was guilty of breaking rules barring conflicts of interest in arranging for a pay raise and promotion for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion and a bank employee, in 2005.
The decision was sent to Mr. Wolfowitz on Sunday night after a month of turmoil over the situation. The panel’s findings were not made public, but people familiar with the report said that it reviewed documents and testimony before concluding that Mr. Wolfowitz had breached his obligations in arranging for Ms. Riza’s reassignment from the bank to the State Department.
“What I’m hearing from colleagues is, ‘Let’s not push the Americans too hard,’ ” said a senior European official involved in policy on the bank. “We want to avoid a split between the United States and its European allies. We’re willing to say: ‘O.K., you find a capable American to run this institution and we can live with that.’ ”
The Bank should not have to resort to that, it is important to show a cohesive Bank that is dedicated to helping developing countries with financial difficulties, not dealing with internal difficulties. European nations were extremely generous by allowing the U.S. to pick a new President for the institution. Wolfowitz must resign soon, if not to save his own face but for the betterment of the World Bank.
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