The World Banker Takes Care of His Own Banking Needs

[Demeter]

http://www.economicpolicymonitor.com/

The Paul Wolfowitz saga continues. WaPo's Sunday edition carries a Karen DeYoung story detailing the demands Wolfowitz made when he was negotiaitng to join the bank.


As he prepared to sign a five-year contract as World Bank president in the spring of 2005, Paul Wolfowitz sent his personal lawyer, Robert Barnett, to negotiate the terms. Barnett, whose high-profile clients have included some of Washington's biggest political and media figures, did not mince words in his meetings with the bank's legal team.

Wolfowitz wanted more than a dozen amendments to the standard contract that had served the institution for decades, Barnett told them, including special dispensation for the books he would write and the paid speeches he planned to deliver, and a salary on par with that of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who was traditionally more highly paid.

A final sticking point, conveyed in all capital letters in an e-mail to then-general counsel Roberto Dañino, was Wolfowitz's insistence that, while he had earlier offered to recuse himself from all office matters involving bank employee and his girlfriend Shaha Riza, he insisted on retaining ... "professional contact" with her -- something that the executive board later determined was a clear conflict of interest under personnel rules.
Labels: wolfowitz, WorldBank

posted by Raymond Weber @ 10:00 AM