Wolfie Looking For the Exit?

From the Financial Register

World Bank directors, in a step towards ousting President Paul Wolfowitz, ruled that he broke ethics rules in arranging a pay raise for his companion, according to a bank official.

The panel stopped short of saying Wolfowitz acted in bad faith and gave him until May 9 to respond. The group also faulted the bank’s ethics committee for giving him insufficient guidance on how to avoid a conflict of interest, and doesn’t suggest a punishment, said a person who read the report. The findings will next be considered by the bank’s full 24-member board, where opposition to Wolfowitz’s continued tenure is hardening, said two officials who asked not to be identified.

Wolfowitz must now choose whether to fight on, negotiate a face-saving deal or allow himself to be pushed out by his critics.

``What he’s probably angling for is an honorable way out,’’ said George Ayittey, an economist at American University in Washington and a former World Bank consultant. ``Right now, even if the board were to clear him, there is so much rancor at the World Bank that it is literally impossible for him to be an effective leader.’’

From Reuters without a hint of irony...

"We believe that the World Bank can continue to be an effective development institution with Paul Wolfowitz as president," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.