Germany slams Wolfowitz as bank board meets

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

BERLIN, May 16 (Reuters) Germany today urged World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to resign his post and said he would not be welcome at an Africa forum the bank is holding next week in Berlin should he refuse to go.

The call came after Wolfowitz made an emotional appeal to stay on at the institution after a World Bank panel found he had violated ethics rules in pushing through a promotion and pay rise for his bank-employee companion Shaha Riza.

''He would do the bank and himself a great service if he resigned,'' German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, one of Wolfowitz's strongest critics, told reporters. ''It would be the best thing for all concerned.'' Should he fail to give up his post, she advised him not to take part in a two-day World Bank forum on development aid for Africa which starts Monday in the German capital.

Wolfowitz remained defiant yesterday as he appeared before the 24-nation World Bank board, which will resume a meeting on Wednesday to decide his fate.

He has been a controversial figure at the Washington-based poverty-fighting institution since his nomination by President George W Bush in 2005 and has fought misgivings by European member countries over his role in the Iraq war while US deputy defense secretary.

Reuters ABM VV1833

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