Wolfowitz-Riza-Cleveland: New Evil-doing?

Although Paul Wolfowitz is sorting his papers and waiting for an invitation to Africa, work remains to be done below the tip of the iceberg.  The Board has dealt with him, but there is more to clean up.  There’s new news, and it involves Robin Cleveland (again), this time with Anwar Ibrahim, former PM of Malaysia and now Chairman of the Foundation for the Future.

Ibrahim told press in Malaysia that he didn’t ask for Shaha Riza

“The former deputy prime minister, who is the chairman of Foundation for the Future, said he did not appoint Shaha Riza to the foundation.

“She was first assigned by the World Bank, through the US State Department, to the foundation in late 2005, before I became chairman.”

(DRUM ROLL)

“The executive committee decided in mid-December 2006 to regularise the appointment [emphasis added] so that Shaha (Riza) advised directly from the World Bank and not the State Department,” he said in a statement.

We all thought Shaha was at the State Department (not detailed, of course) from September 2005 until she moved to the mysterious FFF in late 2006. After all, that’s what Anwar Ibrahim’s October 1, 2006 letter (page 102 of the documents released on April 12 as Ethics Committee Case No. 2) asked Robin Cleveland, whose hands were as involved as PW’s in the sorry deal for PW’s lover.

Recall that the provenance of page 77, Robin Cleveland’s “draft email” justifying the the sole-source selection of the firm that represented (sic) the Bank in negotiations of Shaha’s deal.  Most of their $2000 or so bill was for ‘talking points’ prepared well after Shaha was walking around the halls at State, working for Liz Cheney. 

Why were ‘talking points’ prepared?  For what purpose?  Who used them?  Could this have had something to do with the illegality of the State Department’s accepting her as a freebie from the Bank in the first place?

And if she was moved to Foundation for the Future before October 1, 2006 what does her ‘statement of achievements’ say to account for the first $190,000 tax-free salary she earned before formally moving to FFF as its only employee?

Do we have a second document of dubious origins that passed through Robin Cleveland’s hands?  If so, should she still be in the building, or on adminstative leave while the Audit Committee looks into things?