Here is an excerpt from the statement by Paul Wolfowitz to World Bank officials who are trying to force him to resign from his position as President.
I sincerely believe the ethics committee wanted me to take responsibility to resolve the matter rather than handling it themselves. After receiving the committee's informal advice in late July, 2005, that I should instruct Mr. Coll to carry out the terms of Ms Riza's external placement and promotion, I objected to being involved in any way. The response I got, from Mr. Melkert, is reflected in his memo of August 8, 2005 which is Tab 3 of your packet. In it he tells me that "The EC cannot directly interact with staff member situations, hence Xavier [Coll] should act on [my] instructions." The memo did not say that I should or could delegate the matter to Mr. Coll. It said he should act on my "instructions." It did not suggest that I could delegate it to anyone else. The memo also said I should tell Mr. Coll to meet with Ms. Riza as early as possible, that Mr. Coll should report back to me, and that I should report back to the Ethics Chair. And all this was to be done in a matter of days.
Another member of the committee, Otaviano Canuto, was asked what this instruction to me meant. He says it meant, "Get it out of the way. Do it."
Seven weeks after Ms. Riza resigned, the committee wrote Wolfowitz another letter stating that the outcome was "consistent with committee findings and advice." After the Ethics Committee received an anonymous email about the matter Wolfowitz received another letter from them which concluded,
...the allegations relating to a matter which had been previously considered by the committee did not contain new information warranting any further review.
Wolfowitz makes a strong case in his statement, but I think the outcome is pre-ordained. Exhibits are here.
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