By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Paul Wolfowitz made an emotional appeal to stay on as World Bank president in a last pitch before the bank's board decides whether he has the credibility to lead the poverty-fighting institution. The U.S. government failed to rally support among its key allies for a strategy aimed at saving Wolfowitz his job, even as a bank panel found that he violated ethics rules. Wolfowitz remained defiant as he appeared before the 24-nation board, which will resume a meeting on Wednesday to decide his fate in a scandal over a pay and promotion deal he approved in 2005 for his companion, Shaha Riza, a Middle East expert at the bank. "I respectfully submit, to criticize my actions or to find them as a basis for a loss of confidence would be grossly unfair and would be contrary to the evidence we have presented to you," Wolfowitz said in a statement to the board. "Rather than fix blame for something that wasn't wrong, we should all acknowledge our responsibility as I have acknowledged mine," he said, conceding he made mistakes. Wolfowitz has been a controversial figure at the World Bank since his nomination by President George W. Bush in 2005 and has fought misgivings by European member countries over his role in the Iraq war while U.S. deputy defense secretary. As he faced some of those critics on the board, where Europeans have voiced concern over his continued leadership, Wolfowitz called for a resolution that would be fair. He also promised he would change his management style to regain the trust of staff who have voiced concern that the leadership crisis had compromised the bank's credibility and its effectiveness in fighting global poverty. "I implore each of you to be fair in making your decision, because your decision will not only affect my life, it will affect how this institution is viewed in the United States and the world," Wolfowitz told the board. "You still have the opportunity to avoid long-term damage by resolving this matter in a fair and equitable way that recognizes that we all tried to do the right thing, however imperfectly we went about it." SEEKING SUPPORT The Bush administration found support only from Japan in a conference call of officials from Group of Seven industrial nations for a plan to separate consideration of Wolfowitz's ethics violations from credibility issues. A G7 source said it was clear that most participants on the call wanted a quick resolution to a protracted and messy battle over whether Wolfowitz should stay on, step down or be fired. The G7 countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, the United States and Japan -- are the bank's biggest funders and dominate its decision making. In his statement to the board, Wolfowitz said the past month had been personally difficult for him and for Riza, who had been publicly ridiculed. While the Bush administration has been steadfast in its support for Wolfowitz, on Tuesday it opened the door to his potential departure and hinted at the possibility the World Bank's credibility might outweigh his continued tenure. European critics have maintained since early April, when the crisis first exploded into the open, that the bank's credibility and effectiveness are at risk. "I know some people may get some short-term satisfaction out of finding that I engaged in wrongdoing," Wolfowitz said. "I hope that none of you feels that way, but if you do, I ask you to stop and think about the long-term interests of the bank."
