World Bank Panel to Discuss Wolfowitz

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, speaks with reporters during a news conference at the conclusion of the 2007 Spring meetings at International Finance Fund headquarters in Washington, Sunday, April 15, 2007. The World Bank's board met privately Thursday to discuss President Paul Wolfowitz, whose leadership has been thrown into turmoil by revelations that he helped his girlfriend get a high-paying job. It was unclear what action, if any, the 24-member board would take in the matter. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP)

The United States _ the bank's largest shareholder _ is not on the ad hoc group, according to Bush administration officials.

Although they have not said so publicly, some European governments would like to see Wolfowitz go but do not want to provoke a fight with the United States.

At a finance meeting in Berlin, Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos weighed in, saying: "I think it's crucial for the World Bank to have a credible and sound reputation, and I'm concerned about that reputation in view of everything we know now about what seems to have happened."

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker called the Wolfowitz matter a "serious problem."

Under an informal agreement, the United States names the head of the 185-nation World Bank and the Europeans choose the leader of its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund.

"It sounds like the board is stalling while the higher-level politicians do the necessary horse trading to draw up a list and figure out a succession process," said Bea Edwards, international director for the Government Accountability Project, a watchdog group.

Documents released last week showed that Wolfowitz had a direct hand in securing a State Department job for Riza in September 2005 that pays her $193,590. Before the transfer, Riza was earning close to $133,000 as a communications adviser in the bank's Middle East department.

Riza remains on the World Bank's payroll even though she left the State Department job in 2006 and now works for Foundation for the Future, an international organization that gets some money from the department. "I have now been victimized" for agreeing to the arrangement, Riza said in a memo to the bank last week.

Science Applications International Corp., a large defense contractor, said it was directed to hire Riza. Under the contract, which ran from April 25 to May 31, 2003, Riza studied ways to help set up a new government in Iraq and was paid expenses but no salary while in the country.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said he didn't know how much Riza was paid; SAIC spokeswoman Melissa Koskovich said she didn't know either.

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Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this story.

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