World Bank President: Wrong date on the resignation letter!

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Wrong date on the resignation letter! The following is reproduced from the site Wolfowitz Resign. Apparently, Wolfie has drafted his resignation letter with an effective date of mid-June. I guess he needs that bonus of $400K. Chevy Chase und Berlin

Word from the board....

....he's got the wrong date on his resignation letter.

It appears Mr. Wolfowitz has drafted his resignation letter but it has the wrong date. It seems he has dated the resignation letter mid June. Apparently he believes this will give him time for that nasty cloud to shift. The Board is not at all impressed.

"The letter should obviously be dated today, May 17. Can he not even date a letter correctly?" asked one board member in despair.

Robert Bennett, Wolfowitz's lawyer said yesterday that "Mr. Wolfowitz will not resign under this cloud". It's not a cloud, it's a maelstrom.

Word is that the Board is looking at a list of possible acting presidents to take over once Wolfowitz goes. The candidates for filling those shoes, hopefully wearing better socks, include Graeme Wheeler, Lars Thunell, and Vincenzo la Via. Juan Jose Daboub is not on the list. Strange.

The Beaver ~ May 17, 2007

Comments

apparently, wolfowitz would like to leave in mid-june. it's not an error. he wants to leave under his own terms. the trouble is that he wants to be fully the president of the bank until that time.

wbstaffer ~ May 17, 2007, 09:38 PM

Can you imagine what he will do between now and mid-June....

Fire as many as he can, and then hire scum and cronies to fill every available slot....

Put as much dirt as possible on his enemies files for those who isn't going to get fired...

Hand out contracts to buddies like water.....

Is the ED reading this blog?

None ~ May 17, 2007, 09:42 PM

I hear from board staff that even if he resigns as of mid-June or July, he will be put on mandatory leave with immediate effect anyway. They want him OUT !!!

Ben ~ May 17, 2007, 10:26 PM

Even if he is on mandatory leave, he still walks around announcing himself as the President.

What they should do is to give him an ex gratia payment in lieu of notice.

The non-negotiable is he no longer is President as of now.

About the only lever left is that the Board can cease debate / vote on acceptance of the ad hoc group report.

So they can say the report was never formally endorsed / adopted.

The real puzzle I have over PW is how he managed (in this campaign) to have almost certainly guaranteed that he is unemployable anywhere.

With the paper trail that has been made public, he can't even go for handouts from allies like the Kuwaitis, Saudis, Taiwanese, etc. which he would have been normally entitled to if he hasn't left such a stink behind. He has certainly poisoned the well of the OECD foreign Ministries, closing that route to income.

As it is, there is doubt as to whether he can even go back to academe except at a second tier University, even the better known think tanks would have to think twice about him --- do they want a sexual harassment suit on their hands? I suspect the Heritage Foundation, AEI, AIPAC, etc. would all have second thoughts.

What else can he do?

Maybe he can join a Monastery or a Buddhist temple ?

The problem is, he is only 63, with a possible lifespan to the 90s... that is a long time to be spending collecting and living on social security checks.

If I were him... I would consider plastic surgery and a name change.

None ~ May 17, 2007, 10:44 PM

I like the None's suggestion of "plastic surgery and name change"--which has an externality of the taxpayers not paying for his security detail.

Washingtonian ~ May 17, 2007, 10:52 PM

Wolfie should not be allowed to resign. The Bush administration's wishes notwithstanding, the Board should simply fire his incompetent butt, and do it effective today. (It is apparent that his personality and sense of "ethics" both render him incompetent to run an organization like the World Bank.) The Bank should accomodate him only so far as to offer not to prosecute him if he stops his nonsense immediately.

Rob Fiauto ~ May 17, 2007, 10:57 PM

Why doesn't he stay home and cut his lawn?

Marlene ~ May 17, 2007, 11:09 PM

TO CLARICE,

With due respect to your opinion:

At the time, Mr. Holland and his unelightened friends provided their views of the World Bank last January to accompany Mr. Kellems's leak of internal documents to Fox News, they were wrong and inappropriate. Guess what -- they are still wrong today!

After a couple of years at the World Bank, Mr. Holland failed to learn the basics of the institution. This is NOT a private commercial bank. It is not a private company either. Its Board of Directors does not represent shareholders whose interests are focused primarily on the share price of their company.

While it is too difficult to educate you on the Articles of Agreement of the World Bank through this comments line, you should know that the Board HAS oversight responsibilities over the management of this institution. As you can see, they have complied with their duty to investigate and rule on managerial misconduct. Now they are trying to reach a decision that would be most appropriate for the institution and the ultimate beneficiaries of World Bank assistance.

By the way, the World Bank is also not an agency under the U.S. Government even though the current U.S. administration likes to think otherwise and then tries to ram its policies down the throat of the institution and the countries of our ultimate beneficiaries.

The U.S. has its own state-sponsored development agency called Agency for International Development (AID). Also the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is trying to provide development aid. Some of your tax dollars, and Mr. Holland's as well, go to AID and MCC. Those are the two places to which you should direct your ideas and/or disagreement with development assistance.

anon ~ May 17, 2007, 11:09 PM

Marlene, are you suggesting that he can no longer cut SR's lawn, or the german blonde just got rather expensive to see?

So he has to go back to cutting his own lawn?

Poor guy.

nit ~ May 17, 2007, 11:16 PM

TO: CLARICE again...

The only qualification Mr. Holland was that of a fishing buddy in Crawford, Texas!

Washingtonian ~ May 17, 2007, 11:18 PM

STATEMENTS of EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS and PRESIDENT WOLFOWITZ

May 17, 2007

STATEMENT OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

Over the last three days we have considered carefully the report of the ad hoc group, the associated documents, and the submissions and presentations of Mr. Wolfowitz. Our deliberations were greatly assisted by our discussion with Mr Wolfowitz. He assured us that he acted ethically and in good faith in what he believed were the best interests of the institution, and we accept that. We also accept that others involved acted ethically and in good faith. At the same time, it is clear from this material that a number of mistakes were made by a number of individuals in handling the matter under consideration, and that the Bank’s systems did not prove robust to the strain under which they were placed. One conclusion we draw from this is the need to review the governance framework of the World Bank Group, including the role as well as procedural and other aspects of the Ethics Committee. The Executive Directors acknowledge Mr. Wolfowitz’s decision to resign as President of the World Bank Group, effective end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2007). The Board will start the nomination process for a new President immediately.

We are grateful to Mr. Wolfowitz for his service at the Bank. Much has been achieved in the last two years, including the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, the Clean Energy Investment Framework, the Africa Action Plan, and the Avian Flu Initiative. 2006 was a record year for IDA lending, especially in Africa. The Bank has launched emergency action programmes in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, and played a key role in the Lebanon and Afghanistan donors conference. In March, after an unprecedented global consultation process, we adopted a new strategy for the Bank’s work on Governance and Anti-Corruption. And we have new strategies for Rapid Response in Fragile States, for the Health Sector and for the Financial Sector. We thank Mr Wolfowitz for his leadership and for championing the Bank’s work across so many areas.

It is regrettable that these achievements have been overshadowed by recent events. Mr Wolfowitz has stressed his deep support for and attachment to the World Bank and his responsibility, as its President, to act at all stages in the best interests of the institution. This sense of duty and responsibility has led him to his announcement today. We thank him for this and underscore our appreciation for his commitment to development and his continuing support for the World Bank and its mission.

STATEMENT OF PAUL WOLFOWITZ
I am pleased that after reviewing all the evidence the Executive Directors of the World Bank Group have accepted my assurance that I acted ethically and in good faith in what I believed were the best interests of the institution, including protecting the rights of a valued staff member.
The poorest people of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa deserve the very best that we can deliver. Now it is necessary to find a way to move forward.
To do that, I have concluded that it is in the best interests of those whom this institution serves for that mission to be carried forward under new leadership. Therefore, I am announcing today that I will resign as President of the World Bank Group effective at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2007).
The World Bank Group is a critical institution with a noble mission, that of enabling the world’s poor – and particularly the more than a billion men, women and children who struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day – to escape the shackles of poverty. I have had the privilege of visiting World Bank Group staff and programs in some 25 developing countries in the last two years. I’ve had a chance to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears how eager people are to work hard if they have a chance for a good job, how excited children are to have a chance for the first time to go to school, and how willing parents are to sacrifice so that their children can have a better future.
It has been truly inspirational to be able to help them achieve their goals and it is a privilege for all of us in the World Bank Group to have a chance, every day that we come to work, to make a difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate. I am grateful to have enjoyed that privilege for nearly two years and I am proud of what we have accomplished together as a team.
We provided record levels of support last year to the poorest countries of the world, $9.5 billion, through the International Development Agency (IDA) and we are headed to a new record this year. Half of that support is going to Sub-Saharan African countries, also setting new records;
• We are further increasing support to the poorest countries through the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative completed last year which canceled $38 billion of debt owed by the HIPC countries to IDA, along with specific commitments by the IDA donors to provide additional support to make up for the lost reflows to IDA on a dollar-for-dollar basis;
• And last year we transferred a record amount of Bank Group income, $950 million, to IDA, including the first ever transfer from the IFC to IDA;
We have not only increased the quantity of resources available to the poorest countries through IDA, we are also making those resources more effective, and we are providing greater assurance to donors that they are being used properly:
• By helping developing countries strengthen systems of governance and supporting their efforts to fight corruption and to recover stolen assets;
• By placing greater emphasis on measuring the results our support is producing, although much more work needs to be done in this area; and
• By strengthening cooperation among donors, and particularly among the Multilateral Development Banks in such areas as fighting corruption and averting unsustainable debt burdens;
We have also strengthened our work significantly in a number of important specific sectors, particularly:
• Infrastructure – which was a major concern of the Finance Ministers from Africa when I first met with them two years ago;
• Combating malaria, a preventable disease that is killing 3,000 people a day, most of them children and most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last 18 months we have approved over $360 million in assistance for anti-malaria programs compared to $50 million in the first five years of this decade.
• Here, too, we are emphasizing quality as well as quantity, pressing the development of a “malaria scorecard” to track results and effectively coordinate the work of the many donors so that gaps can be identified and filled.
Some of the work which has been most inspiring to me has been the Bank Group’s response to countries emerging from conflict, countries with new leadership which urgently need assistance to consolidate peace and jumpstart recovery:
• We have responded with unprecedented speed to help fragile states with new leadership, such as Liberia, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
• We have adopted a new Rapid Response and Fragile States policy to enable us to move faster in situations with new opportunity and to encourage more of our staff to work in fragile states.
• We have helped lead successful donor conferences for many post-conflict countries, including Afghanistan, Lebanon and Liberia.
Our work is important, however, to more than just the poorest countries. Indeed, the majority of the world’s poor live in the more successful developing countries, our partners in middle income countries, which borrow from the IBRD.
• These countries still seek help to deal with their large challenges to fight poverty and preserve their environment, but the World Bank Group needs to be increasingly innovative and flexible if we are to be useful to these countries which are already highly sophisticated and have access to many other sources of funds. To do that we developed a new “Middle Income Country Strategy” last year and we are working hard on implementing it.
Some of our most important work has been strengthening the development of the private sector, which is the most important source of the growth and jobs that people need to escape poverty:
• The International Finance Corporation, which works with the private sector, has been setting impressive records, including $8 billion in new commitments this year.
• What should inspire us even more than the numbers is the greatly increased emphasis the IFC is placing on the development impact of their work and on expansion into “frontier markets.” Indeed, Africa is the fastest growing region for IFC work – a five-fold increase in five years – and the IFC has greatly expanded its field staff in Africa.
• Perhaps most of all, I am proud of the innovative work the IFC is doing, through the “Doing Business” report, to help developing countries identify the obstacles to private sector growth and I have been delighted at how eager many governments have been to remove those obstacles once we help identify them.
This is not an exhaustive description of the work of the World Bank Group – or even just the part that I have been involved in – but I need to mention one more thing: the importance of the World Bank partnership with the developed countries to promote sustainable global development:
• The Bank helps rich countries carry out their obligation and their interest to help the world’s poor.
• We support the interest of the developed countries to mobilize global resources for common purposes, such as containing the spread of Avian flu – where the Bank has played a leadership role – or to preserving the planet’s environmental heritage, as we are doing in Brazil and the DRC, by supporting Amazon Basin and Congo River Basin initiatives.
• Most important of all has been the Bank’s development of the Clean Energy Investment Framework which we were first asked to do by the Gleneagles Summit of the G-8 in July 2005. As the world mobilizes resources to diversify energy sources, reduce carbon emissions, avoid deforestation and help countries deal with the effects of climate change, most of those resources have to come from the developed countries. The most productive place to invest them will often be in developing countries. The World Bank Group has been and continues to be in a unique position to facilitate those investment flows and the Global Environment Facility and the Clean Energy Investment Framework form the foundation on which the Bank Group can build.
All of that work – and much more – is only possible because of the dedicated efforts of very hard working staff. I am particularly impressed by our staff in country offices, including remarkable local staff members, many of whom face daily risks to their health and security in order to help the poor whom we strive to serve. They too have been treated unfairly by much of the press coverage of the past weeks and they deserve better. I hope that can happen now.
I have made many strong appointments both from inside and outside the Bank of which I am personally proud. My Senior Management Team is an exceptional group of talented managers and devoted international public servants who it has been an honor to have as friends and colleagues.
But, I am particularly proud to have appointed two African women as Vice-Presidents in key positions, each of them a former cabinet minister with real world experience in solving problems in democratically elected Sub-Saharan governments. Only when African voices with African experiences are fully empowered at the Bank, will the Bank be seen as a center for solutions in that part of the world. We need senior leaders who have real-world experience in tackling the toughest challenges in the poorest countries.
I am also grateful for the dedicated professionalism of the many staff throughout the World Bank Group who have stayed focused on their work during the recent controversy. In the month of April alone, they delivered nearly $1 billion of support for Africa, an innovative new strategy for Bank work in the health sector, and a strategy for Bank Group support for financial sector work in developing countries, and much more. I am particularly grateful to the entire staff of the President’s office who have given me such strong professional support throughout the last two years and particularly during the last month.
It is inspiring to work with people like those and I will miss them.
Finally, I want to say a special word of thanks to the many people inside and outside the Bank who have publicly or privately expressed their support for me and asked me to stay. One of the most moving was a phone call I received from the democratically elected President of a Sub-Saharan African country. It was a private call so I will not quote him by name. But he thanked me for doing so much, in his words, to make the World Bank an institution “that listens, that cares, that understands and that takes action.” If that is true, and if I have “touched the hearts of Africans,” as he told me, then the last two years have been worth it.

I hope I can continue working with him and with the many other Africans, official and non-official, who have been such an inspiration to me – although I will have to find other ways to do so. They are the ones who have convinced me that Africa has a real chance to turn a corner and join the progress that we have seen in many other parts of the developing world in recent decades. It is those Africans who are stepping up – often at great personal sacrifice and even risk, to bring peace, good governance and sound policies to their countries that are the reason for hope. They deserve all the support that the World Bank Group can give them and I hope they get it.
The next President will have my full support. Hopefully the difficulties of the last few weeks can actually strengthen the Bank by identifying some of the areas of governance and human resource management where reform is needed.
Change should not be feared, it is something to welcome. It is the key to keeping this important institution relevant and effective in the future and meeting the needs of the world’s poor, and of humanity as a whole.

RESIGNATION ~ May 17, 2007, 11:21 PM

READ THE FINE PRINT OF WHAT PW REALLY ACHIEVED IN HIS FIGHT: NOTHING

"He assured us that he acted ethically and in good faith in what he believed were the best interests of the institution, and we accept that."

What it really says:

"He assured us..."

"He believed were the best interest..."

"and we accept that."

Of course the EDs accept that.

PW has in his mind what he is doing is sacred... never mind that no one else share that view except his cronies.

"We also accept that others involved acted ethically and in good faith."

Note that there is no qualification that the others involved acted ethically and in good faith IN THEIR OWN MINDS.

That is like saying, "Hitler is justified in starting a World War in his own mind.", or "He is a classic in his own class".

"Bank’s systems did not prove robust to the strain under which they were placed"

What it means is that no previous President have come in with a view to wage war against the safeguards, and of course, the systems are not built to fight corruption at the President's level.

"We are grateful to Mr. Wolfowitz for his service at the Bank. Much has been achieved in the last two years...."

Note that there is no linkage between the two. It could not be said it was achieved BECAUSE of PW.

At least it avoided saying what was achieved was IN SPITE OF PW.

In other words, short of pleasant words that are meaningless, the Board gave away nothing to him.

Good Job, EDs.

none ~ May 17, 2007, 11:48 PM

Just got a call from an insider. He HAS LEFT THE BUILDING even though his resignation is effective June 30th. They are opening Champagne bottles.
Now we have to see what happen to the political appointees and Miss Riza who has NOT followed the rules of the Bank.

Yul ~ May 17, 2007, 11:55 PM

Yes, now there will be plenty of time for Paul to cut his lawn and spruce up the house. I checked out Wonkette for comments and some busybody tracked Wolfie's house and did a Zillow.com and reported on the shabby condition of his lair.

Oh nit, I think SR should pack her raggedy bags and find a new country to leech off of with her 'gender expertise'

Marlene ~ May 17, 2007, 11:56 PM

Great! Now maybe the Ethics Committee and the Board can deal with a colleague's sexual harassment case she filed and won - resulting in the senior Bank official's termination - but absolutely nothing done to remedy her damaged reputation, loss of income, and emotional damage. Ready for the next scandal?

A Friend ~ May 18, 2007, 12:05 AM

One thing I notice in the Board's statement is some missing praise for the $500 million Iraq projects Wolfowitz and his Girlfriend introduced. That makes me think those won't go on. If so, it's a good thing. Iraq is the second-most corrupt country on earth according to Transparency International, as well as a warzone, so why lending went on in Iraq is beyond my understanding. It doesn't sound like it was due to usual bank standards.

Mora ~ May 18, 2007, 12:43 AM

None 10:44 p.m. post: Oh but think of the book deals he'll get - and Halliburton! He'll be manna to the Aggrieved Right. Lecture circuit, here he comes!

anon ~ May 18, 2007, 01:41 AM

anon is right.
Now is the chance for him to write the book on Iraq and make speeches, things he was not allowed during his tenure at the World Bank. He is seeing $$$$$

Yul ~ May 18, 2007, 01:46 AM

"Keep track of the rumored candidates, power plays and buzz."
The Washington Post

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