Pressure has increased on Paul Wolfowitz to resign as President of the World Bank as 32 anti-corruption officials at the bank handed in a letter saying that he was a liability.

Scandal has pursued Mr Wolfowitz since it emerged that the hard-line rightwinger, who pledged to root out corruption and waste when he joined the bank in 2005, had approved a promotion and pay increase for his girlfriend, a bank employee.

Last night, officials working in his anti-corruption drive handed in a letter to the bank's board, saying that it was no longer possible for them to operate effectively with the former US Deputy Defence Secretary in charge.

Bank officials around the world were being told that the bank should put its own house in order before it started preaching at other people to clamp down on bribery and political chicanery, they said.

“As is known, there are reports from the field offices of concrete cases where the bank’s policy dialogue and operational work on governance and anti-corruption are being undermined,” the group wrote in the letter, obtained by the Reuters news agency.

“The credibility of our front-line staff is eroding in the face of legitimate questions from our clients about the bank’s ability to 'practice what it preaches’ on governance.”

The letter, which was handed in last night to the executive board of the World Bank, and to Mr Wolfowitz, suggests that the fears already voiced by the bank's staff association - that the scandal would discredit the bank - appear to be coming true.

The staff association called for Mr Wolfowitz to quit. Last night's letter does not explicitly go so far, but calls for “clear and decisive actions” to resolve the issue, in a way that “demonstrates to all our stakeholders the bank’s commitment to the highest standards of integrity in leadership and accountability”.

Reuters said it had received e-mails from bank staff reporting that government officials in East Africa, Asia and the Balkans had questioned whether the institution had the authority to tell them what to do, especially on governance and anti-corruption measures.

Mr Wolfowitz denies wrongdoing, saying that he followed correct procedures when he arranged for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, to be promoted and given a pay increase before she was moved to the State Department, to be out of his immediate sphere of influence because of their relationship.

The bank’s board has appointed a committee to look into ethical issues and conflicts of interest around the promotion of Ms Riza and has said it will move quickly towards a decision. Mr Wolfowitz, however, says that the process should not be rushed.

On Tuesday, the committee invited Mr Wolfowitz to appear before it, to which he replied the following day in a note: “I am deeply troubled and feel that I am being treated shabbily and unfairly without regard to appropriate process.”

In the note to the committee’s chairman, Herman Wijffels, who represents the Netherlands and a clutch of other countries on the board, Mr Wolfowitz asks for more time to prepare, saying: “It is important not only for me but for the institution, that this matter not be resolved by a rush to judgment. That would only compound the damage to all concerned.”

Robert Bennett, Mr Wolfowitz’s lawyer, said this week that the committee had denied him a chance to present his client’s case.

The bank President is expected to meet the committee on Monday.

Some World Bank member countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, France, Norway and Switzerland, have questioned whether Mr Wolfowitz can still lead the bank.

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