Shaha Riza (Arabic: شاها علي رضا; born 1953 or 1954), is a Libyan former World Bank employee.

Here she was employed in the office of Elizabeth Cheney, subordinated to C. David Welch Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

Beginning as a consultant in July 1997 and then full-time in 1999,[3] she worked with the Middle East and North Africa Social and Economic Development Group of the World Bank.

By July 2002, she was acting manager for external affairs and outreach for MENA, but resigned after Paul Wolfowitz took leadership as World Bank president.

Riza was romantically linked to Wolfowitz prior to his World Bank involvement, when he was Deputy Secretary of Defence under Donald Rumsfeld in the Bush administration.

[6] In 2005 Wolfowitz offered to sign a statement to isolate himself from her[7] which only served to draw scrutiny to what grew into a perceived conflict of interest.

Rule 4.01, paragraph 5.2, states that spouses and registered domestic partners are barred from working in situations where "one supervises the other directly or indirectly", but informal relationships fall under rule 3.01, paragraph 4.02, which states that in such cases, as Wolfowitz and Riza's relationship, the supervisor "shall be responsible for seeking a resolution of the conflict of interest.

"[3] On April 17, 2007, the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed that characterized the scandal as a witch hunt.

According to a World Bank Ethics Committee Case report[non-primary source needed], Wolfowitz acknowledged[17] his association with Riza and stated that "...during the negotiations of my contract, to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, I provided a statement to the Board recusing myself from any personnel actions or decisions with respect to a longstanding professional staff member of the Bank with whom it has been reported that I have a prior personal relationship."