BRITAIN: Disgraced Wolfie blames media

World Bank president criticizes media for exaggerations

Times of India
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

London --- Disgraced World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has insisted his resignation was forced by media overkill and an "overheated" atmosphere within the bank rather than his own allegedly unethical actions over a sweetheart employment deal for his girlfriend.

Wolfowitz told the BBC World Service, in an exclusive interview, that he had always acted ethically and in good faith.

It was Wolfowitz's first interview since announcing he would leave his post on June 30, after a mere two years in job.

Wolfowitz was forced to announce his resignation after a storm of protest over his efforts to secure a higher pay package and promotion for his British Arab girlfriend Shaha Riza.

On Monday, Wolfowitz said that his own actions were not the root cause of his departure. He pointed out that the World Bank board had since accepted his actions were ethical and in good faith. "I'm pleased that finally the board did accept that I acted in good faith and acted ethically and I accept the fact that by the time we got around to that, emotions here were so overheated that I don't think I could have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish for the people I really care about," he said.

Wolfowitz rejected the suggestion the flood of calls from colleagues for him to leave underlined his difficult relationship with the bank. He said, "I think it tells us more about the media than about the bank and I'll leave it at that. People were reacting to a whole string of inaccurate statements and by the time we got to anything approximating accuracy the passions were a round the bend."

He, however, admitted that the storm of bad publicity, suspicion and allegations about him would have made it hard for him to carry on as World Bank president and achieve all he wanted. He said reducing poverty in Africa remained the bank's most important challenge because the continent had been left behind in the spectacular developmental success of other regions, notably India and east Asia.

Wolfowitz, who made anti-corruption measures the cornerstone of his policies at the bank, said the allegations about his probity would not damage its reputation. "Hopefully people will look at some of the governance issues here and the human resources issues here and it could be a stronger place, it should be a stronger place. This kind of experience, actually exposes problems but you don't solve problems unless you expose them."

Date Posted: 5/29/2007