Wolfowitz triggers graft storm at World Bank
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e125344e-8b8c-11da-91a1-0000779e2340.htmlPaul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, has triggered a bitter conflict with the bank’s senior career staff by empowering a group of close political advisers to pursue aggressively what he sees as widespread corruption surrounding bank projects.
The dispute has come to a head with the appointment last week of Suzanne Rich Folsom, a counsellor to Mr Wolfowitz with close ties to the Republican party, as the new director of the Department of Institutional Integrity, the internal bank watchdog that investigates suspected fraud and staff misconduct.
Her appointment has raised objections that a person close to Mr Wolfowitz, and with a political background, has been put into a senior position at a unit that was seen as independent of the president’s office since it was set up in 2001.
Robert Hindle, previously the senior manager of the unit and a long-time World Bank employee, resigned in November largely as a result of what four current and former bank sources said was concern at the targeting of employees who had worked on projects that developed corruption problems, and pressure on two occasions from Ms Rich Folsom to bypass internal rules on investigating the e-mail records of a number of employees.
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World Bank employees paranoid about cabal cobbled together by Wolfowitz
Village Voice
http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeatWolfie Does Some Trust-Busting at the World Bank
Paranoia about Wolfowitz's new cabal courses through the staff
World Bank employees are acting paranoid about the cabal cobbled together by new boss Paul Wolfowitz. But is it paranoia if they're really out to get you?
Suspicion of Wolfowitz's motives are running rampant among the 10,000 employees of the world's most powerful bank, according to fresh internal memos I obtained. The topic is the 2005 Staff Survey, a huge annual undertaking that depends upon anonymity and confidentiality.
Gee, why should anyone be suspicious of the genial architect of the Iraq debacle? Because the guy is setting up his own little cabal
http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/002061.php to run the World Bank — recruiting from the White House and Pentagon, naturally.
Sparked by what some bank employees tell me is an unprecedented level of employee suspicion toward a bank president, Xavier Coll, the bank's personnel chief, issued a memo late Wednesday afternoon that said:
The Bank Group's management team is aware of concerns expressed by some staff about the anonymity and confidentiality of responses to the 2005 Staff Survey.
"Concerns"? That's putting it mildly. Coll's memo was an attempt to assure employees that their anonymity would be protected as they filled out the survey. Alison Cave, chair of the World Bank Group Staff Association, which formally represents employees in the bureaucracy of the bank, tried to offer the same encouragement, while noting that "staff are not required to fill in the demographic data, nor answer any specific questions if they are concerned about repercussions. However, the survey results are more useful if this information is filled in." She added:
It helps the Staff Association know which groups in the Bank are particularly happy or unhappy, and tells us where we need to focus our efforts and hold management accountable. In addition, the aggregated information is available to anyone in the Bank — ensuring both transparency and accountability.
But her memo acknowledged some chilling realities, including this:
I am also concerned by reports that managers are pressuring staff to respond positively to the survey, and not be honest and candid about any negatives. I would ask that you let me know which managers are doing this.