Paul Wolfowitz’s closest aide was involved in crafting an apparently misleading public statement on the Shaha Riza secondment for dissemination by World Bank spokespeople on an anonymous basis, the Financial Times has found.

The disclosure regarding Robin Cleveland came as the panel investigating Mr Wolfowitz’s role in awarding pay and promotion benefits to Ms Riza, his girlfriend, sent a copy of its findings to the bank president, and a second top aide, Kevin Kellems, resigned from the bank. The bank’s board meets on Tuesday to discuss the panel’s report.