Wolfowitz guilty of conflict of interest

The World Bank finds Paul  Wolfowitz guilty of conflict of interest:

"A bank committee formally transmitted its findings that he was guilty of a conflict of interest in arranging for a pay raise and promotion in 2005 to Shaha Ali Riza, his companion," wrote Steven Weisman late on Monday afternoon.

The panel's finding have not been made public, and Weisman added that "It was not clear whether the committee, consisting of 7 of the bank’s 24 board members, would remove Mr. Wolfowitz from his post or, more likely, express a loss of confidence in his leadership in a manner that might persuade him to resign." [Raw Story]

Looks like Wonkette was right.

Comments

[Eric Jaffa]

"In the Middle East and Southwest Asia, our overall objective is to remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region's oil."

Wolfowitz Doctrine, Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby, February 18, 1992

[Lesley]

I read something today about over 900 World Bank employees signing a petition to "resolve the issue" with Wolfowitz. I assumed the subtext was "get rid of him."

[steve duncan]

The Commander Guy says he has the utmost confidence in Wolfie. How can the World Bank repudiate Commander Guy? Don't they know he deploys the 82nd Airborne against people unwilling to take a hint?

[DAS]

Am I the only one who is a little bit concerned about what's really going on here.

Wolfie claimed that the ethics committee didn't even allow him to recuse himself from the promotion decision with his gf. Was he just blowing hot air or did they actually say this? Not that Wolfie is such a fine person, but he does have a better reputation for honesty than the World Bank/IMF who regularly look the other way at what has been called "briberization" (which is what Wolfie at least claimed he was gonna fight ... which fight is important).

Was Wolfie smart enough to get that refusal of recusal in writing (not that we could trust any written statement produced by a Bush & CO associated to be any more honest than the Niger Yellow Cake document)? If so, it might start getting interesting ...

Not that I doubt that a Bush & CO personality would engage in conflict of interest (my sensibilities are not so delicate that I would, like an MSM pundit, get the vapors even hearing such an allegation), but, at the risk of sounding like the kinda person who'll hang a jury 'cause he doesn't trust anything the pig-racist po-po say (oh, wait a minute, I am that kind of person, see, e.g., my blog), look at who's deciding that Wolfie is being un-ethical.

At the very least, it's tres riche that an organization that looks the other way with regards to massive briberies and corruption should all of the sudden have the vapors when it comes to Wolfie's hypocrisy here. It's a double standard we Dems. of which are used to being on the receiving end, so at least let's have a little empathy for mister "spittle is the best hair gel when you're in a pinch and you have a stubborn cow-lick". I know it's fun to gloat, but let's not take our tinfoil hats off too soon or think the forces of good are winning here.

[Barry]

"...Not that Wolfie is such a fine person, but he does have a better reputation for honesty than the World Bank/IMF..."

How many times has Wolfowitz's story changed?

And that's just in the WB; he does have a history, you know.

[Eric Jaffa]

DAS -

Paul Wolfowitz has the blood of thousands of people on his hands for his role in starting the Iraq War.

But I'm skeptical that he was unethical regarding Shaha Ali Riza's compensation:

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All sides agree that he then tried to recuse himself from the arrangements for her transfer and compensation but that the top ethics official on the bank board, Ad Melkert, ruled that it was up to him to arrange her compensation package.

Mr. Melkert testified this week that he did not mean to give Mr. Wolfowitz permission to engineer such a large package. He said that both he and Xavier Coll, the human resources vice president, felt he had violated the rules by arranging for such a large package himself.

Mr. Wolfowitz, who is fighting to avert a committee conclusion that he had violated a ban on conflicts of interest, suggested in his letter on Thursday that he had no choice but to make it a generous package given Ms. Riza’s unhappiness and the fact that she had hired lawyers to fight the move."
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It seems that Ad Melkert is the one who caused the problems by insisting Wolfowitz get involved in her compensation.

[Hawise]

He had a choice- he could have offered standard compensation and let the lawyers duke it out. It would have cost more in the long run but he wouldn't have been in conflict of interest. His girlfriend pouted and he caved on the money.

[Eric Jaffa]

From Bloomberg News:
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Mr. Melkert said yesterday that the ethics committee only told Mr. Wolfowitz to transfer Ms. Riza beyond his "supervising influence," and it recommended giving her a promotion to make up for the disruption to her career. The committee assumed Mr. Wolfowitz would follow bank rules in carrying out those directions, said Mr. Melkert, who is now associate administrator at the U.N. Development Program.

Mr. Wolfowitz then told the bank's human resources director to give Ms. Riza a promotion and lift her annual salary by 36% to $180,000, with further guaranteed increases of about 8% a year, according to documents released by the board. The initial raise was twice as large as bank rules allow, according to the Staff Association, which represents 13,000 employees and has demanded that Mr. Wolfowitz resign.

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Follwing the instructions of Ad Melkert, Wolfowitz had to be involved in her compensation, and had to give her a promotion.

[Hawise]

Fine, but he chose which promotion and for how much and therein lies the conflict.

[Eric Jaffa]

Hawise -

But Wolfowitz was following the instructions of the Ethics Board by getting involved.

"Ad Melkert, ruled that it was up to (Wolfowitz) to arrange her compensation package"

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Wolfowitz also misled bank staffers about whether he instigated Riza's transfer. He apologized for intervening on her behalf and said he never should have gotten involved.

He can't just turn around and blame his underlings for "allowing" him to do something he admits he had misgivings about in the first place.