Wolfowitz Forced To Resign Based On A Trumped Up Charge

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Granted, I don’t have access to the whole editorial from the Wall Street Journal here but this blurb is quite telling: (h/t Sister Toldjah)

WSJ … notes that Herman Wijffels, the head of the committee that accused World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz of ethical violations, recently admitted that the charges against Wolfowitz "were just an alibi to force Mr. Wolfowitz to resign"

To resign since he was pissing off many many countries by cracking down on corruption:

But [despite more competition from private banks] the bank has had one competitive advantage that no private-sector Western lender can match — a willingness to lend large sums to corrupt Third World administrations with few governance strings attached. Wolfowitz’ arrival in 2005, and the anti-corruption measures he has brought in, have jeopardized that advantage big time, as seen in a chilling memo the bank received on March 12 of this year.

The e-mail memo, entitled "Sanctions Reform Roll-Out in EAP [East Asia and Pacific Region] — Your Feedback Needed," was from the manager of the bank’s operation in China, Hsiao-Yun Elaine Sun, to James Adams, vice-president for East Asia and Pacific Region. It warned that the bank could lose its second-largest customer, the Chinese government, if it insisted on carrying through with its intention to hold borrowing countries to account for World Bank monies that were used inappropriately.

China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) "is very concerned about the implementation. They foresee potential disagreements as to the scope, level, and approach of the bank’s involvement on specific cases. Our MOF counterpart is so worried and is considering to suspend the lending program discussions next year in order to avoid getting into a confrontational situation with the bank."

Losing a large borrower like China, which has some US$21-billion in outstanding loans and credits with the bank, and accounts for close to 10% of the bank’s total portfolio, would lead to significant staff layoffs. Moreover, at least three other countries — India, Mexico and Indonesia –have also expressed alarm at the bank’s anti-corruption program, which would make their officials subject to investigation and exposure. These four countries alone, ranked first, second, third and fifth in size among bank customers, account for 30% of all World Bank business.

Of course this was barely reported on by the MSM.  Most of it was of the "Bush associate forced to resign in disgrace" vein….