An apologetic World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz Thursday confessed to errors over a pay scandal surrounding his girlfriend, and left his fate up to the global lender's national governors.
The former deputy US defense secretary, one of the architects of the war in Iraq, refused to say if he might have to resign as the bank's 24-member executive board investigates the controversy.
But ahead of the bank's annual spring meeting this weekend, which threatens to be overshadowed by the dispute, he said: "I will accept any remedies they propose.
"I made a mistake, for which I am sorry," Wolfowitz told a news conference, as uproar deepened over an employment package worth nearly 200,000 dollars given by the World Bank to his Libyan-born partner, Shaha Riza.
According to a Financial Times report Thursday, Wolfowitz personally ordered massive pay rises given to Riza when she was sent from the World Bank's communications office to serve out an assignment at the US State Department.
The assignment was ordered by the bank board, after Wolfowitz took over the world's preeminent development lender in June 2005, to forestall any conflicts of interest.
The FT cited two people who had seen a memo from Wolfowitz to the head of human resources spelling out the terms of Riza's generous package, which grew to total more even than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earns.
The controversy is a deep embarrassment for Wolfowitz just as he battles to overcome skepticism about a campaign that he is waging against corruption in the 185-member World Bank's multi-billion-dollar lending.
He is also under fire from veteran staffers for his management style, following a series of clashes with the board and hostility towards his appointment of Republican Party allies to key bank posts.
Wolfowitz did not spell out his exact role in determining Riza's pay deal. But he said that "in hindsight, I wish I had trusted my original instincts and kept myself out of the negotiations."
He explained that he had followed advice given by the bank's ethics committee, and said: "I take full responsibility for the details of the agreement.
"I did not attempt to hide my actions nor make anyone else responsible."
Amid a series of media leaks over the Riza affair, the World Bank's legal department this week retained a Washington law firm to investigate the disclosure of "confidential" internal communications.
"Clearly, this is an attempt by bank management to create a climate of intimidation and to silence whistleblowers, both past and future," commented Bea Edwards of the Washington-based Government Accountability Project.
Some observers say Wolfowitz has become a liability at a time when the World Bank is trying to prove its relevance to fast-growing powers like China, which have ample currency reserves and easy access to private capital.
International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato, asked whether he backed Wolfowitz, expressed "total confidence" in the IMF sister organization's ability to resolve the controversy.
Tim Adams, the US Treasury's undersecretary for international affairs, said the administration would await the World Bank board's findings.
"We should use all of our energy and all of our capacities to address corruption wherever it is," he said, while applauding Wolfowitz's work in Africa and on alleviating global poverty.
Wolfowitz, whose nomination two years ago by the US government was conit/rlptroversial given his role in the Iraq war, refused to say whether his credibility was now damaged beyond repair.
But he insisted that he had taken on board staff criticisms, especially over his appointment of two former members of President George W. Bush's administration to jobs in his inner circle.
"For those people who disagree with the things that they associate with my previous job, I'm not in my previous job," he added.
"I'm not working for the US government. I believe deeply in the mission of the (World Bank) institution and have a passion for it."
