After those trouble which Paul Wolfowitz gave to developing economies on the issue of corruption, its time for him to feel troubled. President, World Bank Paul Wolfowitz (former deputy secretary of Defence) had a stormy session at world bank for two years, but when he ordered a hefty pay hikes and promotion for his Libyan-born girlfriend Shaha Riza, a bank employee whom he has dated a whole new wave of scandal against him have started and now facing with demands for his resignation and according to current news, bank’s Board of Directors is considering what action to take. Not only this support for his female friend but for this whole two years stint at WB have made many issues world wide, even within the bank.

  • Some governments say he has gone too far with his anti-corruption campaign.
  • Some World Bank staff members complain that he doesn’t listen.

Paul Wolowitz

For now, at least, Wolfowitz still has the support of the White House, The president has full confidence in Paul Wolfowitz. “He’s done a remarkable job at the World Bank, where they are working to lift people up out of poverty from around the world.” Wolfowitz was supposedly the main strategy maker of Iraq war, and when Bush government send him to world bank, many were skeptical about his success.

Documents released by the bank’s 24 executive directors have exposed Wolfowitz’s hand in a pay package worth nearly 200,000 dollars that was awarded to Riza, when she was reassigned to the US State Department in September 2005 to prevent any conflicts of interest with her new boss.

The controversy has erupted at the worst time for Wolfowitz when he is battling to overcome resistance to his flagship campaign against corruption in the World Bank’s 24-billion-dollar annual lending. There are many who are not happy about the way he drives this campaign. When he point any nation with the charge of corruption and the particular nation asks for any kind of proofs or material witness, he didn’t used to answer but after sometime there would be statements like “the nation is having strong democratic procedures and trying to suppress issues” This was obliviously not accepted but reflected Wolfowitz style of functioning.

Paul Wolfowitz on India

Despite the fact India is having very high ranking in corruption Wolfowitz supported India and praised for its success in undertaking development initiatives, He said (during his South Asia visit - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka), India is one of our biggest portfolios. It has been making wonderful progress in the last 15 years or so, Poor countries will never get to where countries like the United States, England, Germany or Japan are. But they look at countries where there is a lot of poor like India and see it can be done. It is inspirational”

“We learn a lot from the Indian experience where some eight million of the poorest, of the most marginalised, are participating in self-help groups — not just getting micro-credit help, but really getting self-confidence.” pointing to his own recent visit to Andhra Pradesh.

Some leading US Congressional Republicans and development experts have argued that the World Bank should pull back from lending to countries that have access to international capital markets. But Wolfowitz will like to make World Bank loans available to India and China and serve their need in an innovative way. India and China stay away from World Bank loans because of the hassle and red tape associated with such processes.

Paul Wolfowitz understands that helping China and India is helping other middle income countries since India and China have so much influence on the exports and imports of these countries in Asia and Africa.

Ten Things Worth Knowing About The World Bank in India

  1. India is one of our ‘founding fathers’.
  2. Our loans are a cheap source of financing.
  3. India is the largest recipient of our financial assistance.
  4. We rely on local expertise.
  5. We looked to India first for new development ideas.
  6. We have joined hands with India in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
  7. We are bringing our assistance to the state level.
  8. We are helping to energize India.
  9. We’re excited about e-governance in India.
  10. We share India’s vision of ‘Education for All’.

[Biography: Paul Wolfowitz] Photo credit: Sondeep Shankar copyright world bank.
[Sources: NPR, World Bank, Google News, Wolfowitz India visit]