World Bank Head Apologizes Over Girlfriend's Promotion
April 13, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz (file photo) (AFP)
Paul Wolfowitz said he had erred in helping Shaha Riza get transferred to a high-paying job at the U.S. State Department two years ago.
"I made a mistake for which I am sorry," he said. "But let me also ask for some understanding. Not only was this a painful personal dilemma, but I had to deal with it when I was new to this institution and I was trying to navigate in uncharted waters."
Riza was moved to avoid a conflict of interest after Wolfowitz's appointment in 2005.
But while still on the World Bank payroll, she was then promoted and ended up with an employment package worth nearly $200,000 -- higher than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's earnings.
The bank's board of directors says it will decide soon about how to proceed. In a statement, the board says it found Wolfowitz signed off on a promotion and salary increase for Riza without a review by an ethics committee or the board's chairman.
The bank's staff association is calling on Wolfowitz to resign.
The scandal threatens to overshadow the April 14-15 spring meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington.
(AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)