LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – The New York Times reports that, after six weeks of combating efforts to oust him as president of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz began Wednesday to negotiate the terms under which he would resign, in return for the dropping or softening of the charge that he had engaged in misconduct, bank officials said.
Mr. Wolfowitz was said to be adamant that he be cleared of wrongdoing before he resigned, according to people familiar with his thinking.
The negotiations were still under way on Wednesday evening, and bank officials said they were increasingly hopeful that a solution was in sight, ending what had become a bitter ordeal at the bank, within the Bush administration and at economic ministries around the world.
The World Bank’s board of directors met Wednesday afternoon to discuss the conclusion of its special committee that Mr. Wolfowitz was guilty of ethical and governance violations. Many were firm about not dismissing the findings that Mr. Wolfowitz violated the bank’s trust by arranging for a pay and promotion package for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion and a bank employee, when he became president in 2005.
