One of the closest aides to World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has resigned, saying turmoil at the bank over its current leadership has made it difficult for him to do his job.
The departure of Kevin Kellems is a blow in a crucial week for Mr Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq war now under fire for his handling of a lucrative promotion and pay increase for his companion, Shaha Riza.
The resignation came as a special bank panel appointed to look into whether Mr Wolfowitz broke rules or abused his powers in the handling of Ms Riza's transfer to the State Department completed its findings and presented the report to Wolfowitz.
The report will be submitted to the bank's board of shareholder governments today, with a follow-up meeting, possibly tomorrow, at which Mr Wolfowitz's future in the bank will be decided.
According to the sources, there is "widespread feeling" among board directors that it is virtually impossible for Wolfowitz to stay on as president for the rest of his term because of the damage to the bank's credibility and its ability to be effective.
In Brussels, Dutch finance Minister Wouter Bos stressed it was important that the bank's reputation was not undermined. "The bank can only do a good job if there is a good and sound reputation. I am concerned about this reputation at the moment."
Board sources said the key to whether Wolfowitz stays or goes is if the US, the bank's biggest and most influential shareholder who nominated Wolfowitz for the job, puts pressure on the board, especially on European countries, to allow Wolfowitz to continue. The White House has repeatedy said that President Bush has confidence in Wolfowitz.
It emerged separately that another of Mr Wolfowitz'a close aides, Robin Cleveland, was involved in crafting an apparently misleading public statement on Ms Riza secondment for dissemination by World Bank spokespeople on an anonymous basis. The statement claimed the agreement with Ms Riza was approved by the bank's ethics committee after consultation was immediately disputed by the then chair of the committee. - (Reuters, Financial Times service)
