The World Bank has withheld the findings of an inquiry into alleged mismanagement of bank funds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising fresh questions about the anti-corruption strategy of Paul Wolfowitz, the bank's president.

An audit by the integrity department, which answers directly to Mr Wolfowitz, was launched more than a year ago in the wake of allegations of corruption in Congolese government agencies handling hundreds of millions of dollars in postwar reconstruction aid. The inquiry raised hopes in Kinshasa that officials alleged to have misused donor funds would be exposed.