Mumbai: World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz will remain in office for now but the bank''s board has widened a probe into favours that Wolfowitz gave his companion Riza Shah, his subordinate at the World Bank, to include the employment contracts of his top advisers.

The board did not give a timeframe for resolving the matter which it said was of ``great concern. The investigations will, however, be widened to include ``issues around employment contracts'''' in Wolfowitz''s office.

Wolfowitz, who is under fire by European nations, including the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France, is now dependent on the support of the US, the agency''s largest donor.

The US administration, which appointed Wolfowitz in 2005, has repeated its support for the former deputy defence secretary.

European governments, including Germany and the UK, have been critical of Wolfowitz, while officials from Canada, Japan and South Africa have been more supportive.

``There is a process to be followed,'''' Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty told reporters. ``I''m not going to prejudge the issue.''''

Three months after becoming president in June 2005, Wolfowitz sent Riza Shah on assignment to the state department to comply with rules forbidding one partner from reporting to another. Riza, who stayed on the bank payroll, got a promotion and a 36-per cent pay increase that was twice as large as allowed by bank rules, according to the World Bank staff association.

The following year, Shah, a Libya-born UK citizen, received a 7.5-per cent raise, bringing her salary to $193,590, more than is earned by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Her agreement with the World Bank guaranteed her an annual raise of about eight per cent. As a non-US citizen, she doesn''t pay personal income tax.

Wolfowitz, who is divorced, last week apologised for his role in Shah''s promotion and said his decision was a good-faith effort to carry out recommendations of the board''s ethics committee. He appealed for understanding of a ``painful personal dilemma,'''' while vowing to stay in the job.

In 2005, the Pentagon''s inspector-general looked into a 2003 defence department order to a contractor to hire Shah for one month to be an adviser on a project in Iraq. Wolfowitz, who worked in the defence department at the time, recommended Riza for that assignment as well.

Reports, meanwhile, said if the tainted World Bank president opts to quit, possible successors could include former US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick and United Nations Development Programme chief Kemal Dervis.

Reports also pointed to the possibility of Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank staffer, emerging a leading candidate. The World Bank president is traditionally from the US while a European heads the IMF.

The World Bank and the IMF were founded in 1944 as the eventual victors of World War II planned for the postwar economic order. The bank, created to help rebuild Europe, has since changed its mission to fighting poverty. It lends about $23 billion a year.