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April 13, 2007

This Seemed A Bad Idea Only "In Hindsight"?

Arranging promotions for your girlfriend is never a wise or remotely ethical idea, there, Paul.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The World Bank's board of directors adjourned a meeting on Friday over the promotion by bank President Paul Wolfowitz of his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, saying it would move quickly to decide how to proceed.

In a statement, the board said it found that Wolfowitz signed off on Riza's promotion and salary increase without a review by an ethics committee nor the board's chairman. The promotion came shortly after he joined the institution in 2005.

"The executive directors will move expeditiously to reach a conclusion on possible actions to take," the board said.

"In their consideration of the matter the executive directors will focus on all relevant governance implications for the bank," it added.

The board released documents of findings of an ad hoc group that investigated the contract agreed with Riza and also included communications between Wolfowitz, the board and other bank officials.

The review on Friday by the board of member countries focused on whether Wolfowitz broke staff rules when he approved Riza's promotion, before she was assigned to the State Department to resolve possible conflict of interest issues arising from his supervision over her work.

Wolfowitz has taken full responsibility for Riza's promotion and apologized on Thursday, saying he made a mistake in the way he handled the issue, but said he was in "uncharted waters" and still new in his job.

"In hindsight, I wish I had trusted my original instincts and kept myself out of the negotiations. I made a mistake, for which I am sorry," he said in an opening statement at a news conference.

There's no "uncharted" bullshit about it; it's wrong and sleazy.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at April 13, 2007 06:37 AM

Comments

"I wish I had trusted my original instincts and kept myself out..."
Yup wolwo, would have been a good idea to keep your nose out of Irak too, and to respect the CIA and Pentagon for once. It's called unethical interference either way.
And to think, it ends up being the World Bank that has the guts to call the guy on his fumbles.

Posted by: M.F. at April 16, 2007 07:06 AM