NEW YORK - The New York Times Monday called for the ouster of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz who is embroiled in a scandal for securing a hefty pay raise for his girlfriend who worked there.
The influential daily said Wolfowitz should step down since he had championed good governance and has "fallen far short of his own standards."
"What might Mr Wolfowitz himself say if he discovered that a government receiving World Bank loans was making similar sweet arrangements for the personal friends of its president?," the paper asked.
"There is no way Mr Wolfowitz can recover his credibility and continue to be effective at the bank."
Wolfowitz on Sunday refused to resign as the development lender's member governments revealed their "great concern" over staggering pay hikes and guaranteed promotions he won for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza.
Asked if it was hypocritical for him to stay in office while waging a war on corruption in the World Bank's 24-billion-dollar annual lending, he said: "I'm not commenting on the premise of the question. I will just stop there."
But the 185-member bank's ministerial policymakers remained split on his fate, with the former Pentagon deputy chief continuing to enjoy strong backing from the US administration.
The ministers said they would await the findings of a review by the World Bank's executive board into the conduct of Wolfowitz, who directed that his Libyan-born partner get a pay deal worth nearly 200,000 dollars.
Wolfowitz first claimed that he had nothing to do with the generous terms of the assignment, then admitted his involvement but said he acted in "good faith" to resolve an unprecedented personnel problem.
04/16/2007 13:33 GMT