Foundation for the Future
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied having a hand in getting the high pay rise for Shaha Ali Riza, girlfriend of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz.
The former deputy prime minister, who is the chairman of Foundation for the Future, said he did not appoint Shaha Riza to the foundation. “She was first assigned by the World Bank, through the US State Department, to the foundation in late 2005, before I became chairman. “The executive committee decided in mid-December 2006 to regularise the appointment so that Shaha (Riza) advised directly from the World Bank and not the State Department,” he said in a statement.
The following is a Statement from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Foundation for the Future :-
The Foundation for the Future was first announced in Bahrain in November 2005 by foreign and development ministers of the broader Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the United States. The Foundation is an independent set-up, involving governments and civil society to support civil society organisations in their efforts to foster democracy and freedom in the broader Middle East and North Africa.
From the onset, the Foundation obtained pledges of US$56 million. Thus far the Foundation only received funds from Turkey, the United Kingdom and Jordan, among others. The US has not disbursed any funds to the Foundation.
I was invited to join the board of the Foundation in mid 2006 together with representatives from Morocco, Kuwait, Iraq, Spain, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Switzerland and Qatar.
The other board members include Kamel Abu Jaber, advisor to the Jordanian Foreign Minister; Dr. Cornelio Sommaruga, former President of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Professor Ibrahim Kallin, advisor to the Foreign Minister of Turkey; and Sandra Day O’ Connor, former US Supreme Court justice.
The first board meeting was convened in Doha, Qatar at the invitation of Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, the Foreign Minister and presently Prime Minister of Qatar on 15 July 2006, and I was unanimously elected as the first honorary chairman. The decision was to set up the headquarters in Beirut.
However, in the Board Meeting on 4 December 2006 in Amman, Jordan, I met the Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah Al-Khatib, who endorsed the setting up of the regional secretariat in Amman due to the delay in the Beirut headquarters as a result of the Israeli attack on Lebanon. The next board meeting will convene in 29-30 May 2007 in Bahrain, Lebanon.
I did not appoint Ms. Shaha Ali Reza to the Foundation. She was first assigned by the World Bank through the US State Department to the Foundation in late 2005 before I became Chairman. The executive committee of the decided in mid 2006 to regularise the appointment so that Shaha advises directly from the World Bank and not the State Department.
The board will issue a full statement after the meeting in Bahrain next week. However, due to the incessant propaganda from the UMNO controlled-media, I have decided to issue this statement. If there is no clarification by the media on the matter, the Foundation will not hesitate to institute legal action against the relevant parties.
Anwar Ibrahim
Foundation for the Future Chairman
May 20th 2007
News reports had said that Anwar had written to a letter to Robin Cleveland, Wolfowitz’s counsellor at the World Bank, last October, asking for Riza to be transferred from the State Department to the foundation. The move raised her pay by 36% from US$133,000 (RM452,250) to US$193,590(RM658,255). In his press statement, Anwar said the setting up of the Foundation for the Future was announced in Bahrain in November 2005. The aim was for an independent body, comprising governments and civil societies to support non-government organisations (NGOs) in developing democracy and freedom in the Middle East and North Africa. He said US$56mil (RM190.5mil) was promised to the foundation but to date, it had only received funds from Turkey, the UK and Jordan, and none from the US. Anwar said he had been invited to join the board of the foundation in mid-2006 along with representatives from Morocco, Kuwait, Iraq, Spain, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Switzerland and Qatar. At the first board meeting, he said he was unanimously chosen as the chairman.
Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin had said on Sunday that Anwar must explain his role in the controversy involving Wolfowitz and Riza, clarify his relationship with Wolfowitz, and explain his motives for heading a foundation “bankrolled” by the US. "Anwar has to explain because this is an irregularity and abuse of power at the international level," he said.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The Ethics Committee of the World Bank already released documents illustrate the following:
1. An attempt was made by the Bank, PW, and SR to follow due process in resolving the conflict of interest at the Bank. Whether they succeeded in that attempt is the crux of the matter and is addressed in the more recent statement by the Bank and PW.
2. That Riza's raise and external assignment to the State Department were the result of deliberations that took place within the World Bank during the Summer of 2005 and that were finalized in September 2005. Neither Anwar Ibrahim personally nor the Foundation for the Future as an organization (which did not even exist at that point) had anything to do with either her raise or external assignment to the State Department.
3. That the Foundation for the Future did nothing inappropriate. The Foundation did not exist in September 2005. It was an idea that existed on paper and could not have been party to any negotiations of any sort. Once the Foundation was a real institution it was in a position to hire staff and to formally assign Riza to the Foundation and dissolve her association with the State Department which was clearly no longer necessary. Anwar Ibrahim's October 2006 letter as Chairman of the Foundation to the Bank reaffirms SR's mandate to work to build and develop the Foundation (which was the focus of her assignment to the State Department as described in a september 2005 letter between the State Dept. and the World Bank). The letter makes no mention of SR's salary other than to refer to the existing arrangement that had already been made with the State Department.
If people took the time to learn the facts instead of being manipulated by innuendo and conspiracy theories then they would see this smear campaign against the Foundation and Anwar Ibrahim is just a political maneuver being staged to marginalize and discredit the only political force in Malaysia that has a chance to change the system.
While the Malaysian Minister is busy trying to dig up a scandal on Anwar Ibrahim where none exists (Anwar does not even receive a salary as Chairman of the Board of the Foundation) the Malaysian government is descending deeper into an abyss of corruption and decadence.
Talk about baiting and switching the Malaysian public.
Post a Comment