Benn says Wolfowitz controversy hurts World Bank

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Britain said on Saturday the scandal over World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz's promotion of his girlfriend has damaged his institution and the decision over his fate should now lie with its board.

"While this whole business has damaged the Bank and should not have happened, we should respect the board's process," development minister Hilary Benn said in a statement released as he arrived in Washington for the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings.

"I am sure these views will be shared by other governors who will also be considering their responses."

Wolfowitz has been under growing pressure to resign after it became known that he approved a big pay rise and new job for his girlfriend -- a World Bank staffer.

The White House has offered its full backing for the former Bush administration stalwart but many other countries have so far remained cautious about prejudging any decision by the World Bank's board.

Like Britain, however, France and Germany have offered much less than a ringing endorsement of Wolfowitz, considered one of the architects of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The World Bank is "an institution whose governance and ethics must obviously be impeccable," French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said on Friday.

Germany's development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, told Reuters on Saturday: "He himself has to decide whether he still has the credibility to represent the position of the World Bank."