Kiwi a rival to Blair at World Bank

Paul Wolfowitz, a former United States deputy defence secretary, resigned from the bank job last week after being found to have breached ethical rules.

Mr Wheeler, a former executive at the Treasury in New Zealand, was appointed the World Bank's managing director by Mr Wolfowitz.

International reports have pinpointed Mr Wheeler as a strong possibility as his successor.

Mr Wolfowitz stepped down after accusations of impropriety in his involvement in a high-salary promotion for his Libyan girlfriend Shaha Ali Riza in the US State Department.

Mr Wolfowitz said he was resigning in the bank's "best interests".

Based in Washington, the World Bank provides financial aid to developing countries.

Mr Wolfowitz was appointed president in 2005 at the insistence of US President George W Bush.

In resigning from the bank, he wrote to its board of directors suggesting he leave running of the bank to his two managing directors, one of them being Mr Wheeler. The other managing director, Juan Jose Daboub, of El Salvador, has been mired in controversy since leaked documents reportedly showed he ordered staff to delete references to family planning in a strategy for Madagascar.

Mr Wheeler, described by former colleagues in Treasury circles as being well respected and a "person of integrity", reportedly spoke out at a senior World Bank meeting calling for Mr Wolfowitz to resign.

Mr Wheeler could not be reached for comment.

He joined the World Bank in 1997 as director of financial products and services. He later became treasurer.

Before that, he was chief executive of New Zealand Treasury's debt management office for four years from 1993.

Previously, he served as a macro-economic policy director for the Treasury and as New Zealand's senior representative to the OECD in Paris.

US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson is now leading the process to select a new World Bank president. The White House has promised to move quickly to appoint a new president.

High-level speculation has picked outgoing British prime minister Tony Blair as a definite frontrunner.

A White House spokesman said a non-American appointment, breaking what has been described as a "long-held tradition" for the organisation, was a possibility.

Other possibles include Robert Zoellick, a former US trade representative and former deputy secretary of state, US Treasury deputy secretary Robert Kimmitt and former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

New Zealander Graeme Wheeler has been named alongside British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a top contender for the freshly vacated World Bank presidency.

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