Odious Debts Online

November 28, 2007

When the World Bank staff staged a coup against then-President Paul Wolfowitz earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal editorials argued that one motivation was to stop his anti-corruption fight. Now The WSJ describes “another backroom putsch,” this time against Suzanne Rich Folsom, the head of the bank’s anticorruption unit (INT, or department of institutional integrity).

The machinations against Ms. Folsom include allegations of “gross mismanagement” by anonymous, but “concerned INT staff members.”

Not so coincidentally, says The WSJ, the attack on her is happening just prior to the release of a major INT report on corruption in India. (See earlier coverage).

“For this thankless work,” says The WSJ, “Folsom ought to be a bank hero.” Instead, she was hauled before bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to respond to the charges. ”

By this point,” says The WSJ, “nothing surprises us about a World Bank staff that is out of control and fears accountability above all.”