The World Bank's board was poised for another emergency meeting yesterday after one of Paul Wolfowitz's two deputies urged him to resign as its head.
Graeme Wheeler, managing director, made his call on Wednesday, in front of all the bank's senior officials, at an extraordinary session of their regular weekly meeting. It is understood that other managers of vice-president rank also suggested Mr Wolfowitz should go. But the bank president told the meeting he had no intention of quitting.
Mr Wolfowitz has been under pressure to resign after revelations that he was personally involved in securing a big pay rise for his girlfriend Shaha Riza as part of a secondment package to the US state department.
Within hours of Mr Wheeler's call for Mr Wolfowitz to resign, the bank's regional teams of managers were taking sides.
Those from its Latin America region expressed strong support for Mr Wheeler's position and agreed to threaten to resign en masse if Mr Wolfowitz stayed.
The East Asia and South Asia management teams also appeared to side with Mr Wheeler. The Africa and Middle East managers looked to be siding with Mr Wolfowitz.
There is a divide between Wolfowitz loyalists and the majority of officials who were there under Jim Wolfensohn, his predecessor. The regions leaning in favour of Mr Wolfowitz are headed by officials appointed to vice-president rank by him; the regions against him are headed by Wolfensohn era vice-presidents.
Asked if he denied that Mr Wheeler told Mr Wolfowitz to resign, Marwan Muasher, vice-president for external affairs, said: "I do not comment on private meetings inside the bank."
