World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
BEIJING,
May 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz made an
emotional appeal to the 24-member World Bank Executive Board before it
makes the final decision on his fate Wednesday.
In his appeal, Wolfowitz emphasized that a loss of
confidence in his leadership would be unfair and he promised to change his
management style to regain the trust of the bank staff.
"I respectfully submit, to criticize my actions or to
find them as a basis for a loss of confidence would be grossly unfair and would
be contrary to the evidence we have presented to you," Wolfowitz said.
"I implore each of you to be fair in making your
decision, because your decision will not only affect my life, it will affect how
this institution is viewed in the United States and the world," Wolfowitz added.
He insisted his decisions on his girlfriend's pay and
promotion package at the time were made in the best interest of the institution.
"I have said that I am not without fault in this
matter," he said. "Rather than fix blame for something that wasn't wrong, we
should all acknowledge our responsibility, as I have acknowledged mine."
Wolfowitz also stressed that he had accomplished a
lot at the World Bank during his tenure and asked the board to "think about the
long-term interests of the bank" in determining his fate.
He listed what he regarded as his successes at the
bank, including programs in Africa, a donors conference on Lebanon and
Afghanistan, targets for delivering education to the poor and a strategy to
respond more quickly to the needs of countries emerging from conflict or
disaster.
The board will make a final decision later Wednesday.
(Agencies)
Paul Wolfowitz and his close female friend Shaha Riza(File Photo)
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank executive board will meet with World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on Tuesday to decide his future, the bank said in a statement on Monday.
"The executive directors have this afternoon received the second report of the ad hoc group...They will meet with Mr. Wolfowitz at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Tuesday as part of their deliberation on the report," said the statement. Full Story
WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank executive board has concluded that the bank's president, Paul D. Wolfowitz, broke ethics rules in engineering a hefty pay raise for his girlfriend, and plans to try to end his tenure next week, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Board members do not want to vote to fire Wolfowitz since that might provoke a rupture with the bank's largest shareholder, the United States, senior bank officials were quoted as saying. Full story
WASHINGTON, May 8 (Xinhua) -- A special World Bank has panel found that Paul Wolfowitz breached ethics rules when he used his position as president to secure a generous compensation package for his girlfriend, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The determination after a month-long inquiry increased the chances that the bank's board might reprimand Wolfowitz or even call for his ousting, according to the Journal.Full story
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