Breaking: World Bank Board of Directors Likely To Issue Opinion On Appointment Of Former Sen. Mitch McConnell Aide Early Next Week

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is facing possible termination early next week for corruption charges surrounding the appointment of his girlfriend to a higher paid salary position than Condoleeza Rice at the State Department, but it appears the investigation into his appointment of Robin Cleveland, the former aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell is heating up. Not only does it appear McConnell helped arrange for her excessive tax-free salary at over a quarter-million-dollars, but that he is using her to steer millions of dollars in World Bank funds to Iraq by circumventing the normal venting procedures for World Bank lending:

Mr. Wolfowitz has clashed with the staff over pay packages and authority he gave to aides Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, whom he brought to the bank from the White House, installed in senior positions and rewarded with open-ended contracts and quarter-million-dollar, tax-free salaries, despite their lack of development experience.

Both staff and management also have raised concerns over what several described as Mr. Wolfowitz’s insistence that the bank accelerate its lending to Iraq and open an office there.

We can only hope that Sen. Mitch McConnell will answer the following questions after the Board of Directors issues its opinion:

Detractors charged that Wolfowitz used his anti-corruption campaign selectively to reward U.S. allies and punish critics.

He antagonized senior managers with his appointments of two advisers, Kevin Kellems and Robin Cleveland, recruited from the Bush administration. Those appointments will also be a subject of the inquiry by the board panel.