Washington, May 19:

The US has vowed yesterday to quickly find a successor to disgraced World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz, leaving open the possibility of naming a non-American in a break from a much criticised tradition.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said yesterday that the Bush administration wanted “to move swiftly in this process.” Asked if Bush might nominate someone who was not a US national, Fratto said, “potentially, sure.”

US treasury secretary Henry Paulson is leading the process to select a new World Bank president to replace Wolfowitz, who announced his resignation on Thursday following weeks of turmoil over a favouritism scandal.

Wolfowitz said he would step down on June 30 in the ‘best interests’ of the bank following weeks of pressure over a generous pay and promotion package he arranged for his girlfriend, a bank employee.

Under the deal reached with the bank’s executive board, Wolfowitz was absolved of blame for orchestrating a secondment to the state department for his girlfriend Riza, as well as a pay rise that gave her a far larger salary there than even the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

A former deputy defence secretary and a leading architect of invasion of Iraq, Wolfowitz was president Bush’s nominee to World Bank post in 2005. The choice riled Europeans.

Naming a ‘hawk’ who favours military might to lead the 185-country bank charged with distributing annually more than $20-billion in development aid to fight poverty appeared to many a bad fit.

Still, they bowed to Washington’s selection in the duopolistic tradition that has existed for more than six decades: the US picks the World Bank chief and European powers select the head of its sister institution, the IMF.

The arrangement set up in the aftermath of World War II is seen today as an anachronism by developing and poor countries - clients of the World Bank that are seeking a greater voice and transparency in its governance.

International development agency Oxfam said the practice “disempowers poor countries, the main clients of the Bank and the IMF. The US and other rich countries must now show that they are serious about good governance by allowing the next head of the bank to be appointed bas-ed on merit through an op-en accountable process.”

Possible successor

WASHINGTON: Rumours have circulated in past days that outgoing British prime minister Tony Blair, a loyal Bush ally who made a farewell trip to the White House this week, could be tapped for the post. Apart from him, Robert Zoellick, a former US trade representative and former deputy secretary of state, Robert Kimmitt, treasury deputy secretary, Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman, Henry Paulson, the treasury chief, Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa, Stanley Fischer, who has worked at both the IMF and World Bank are considered. — Agencies