NU Online News Service, April 1, 4:00 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON–Officials of a House panel have asked federal agencies to deliver reports today from an independent monitor retained to oversee American International Group in 2005 after Maurice Greenberg was forced to leave as AIG chief executive following an accounting scandal.

Mr. Greenberg is due to appear tomorrow before the House Government Reform Committee, which has requested the monitor's reports. He is expected to be asked about his role at the company ,. He issued a statement today saying he would explain to the committee why the government's financial rescue effort for AIG is a failure.

The AIG monitor reports were prepared by James Cole, a lawyer with Bryan Cave, a Washington, D.C. law firm. The monitor's oversight was ordered in November 2004 as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the company.

Mr. Cole was hired in early 2005, and his responsibilities were broadened in November 2006 after a separate settlement required that Mr. Cole monitor and examine AIG's financial reporting, as well as provide oversight of corporate governance.

His reports were requested by Rep. Edolphus Townes, D-N.Y., and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman and ranking minority member of the House Government Reform Committee.

The data was requested from the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission and was scheduled to be delivered by 4 p.m. today.

"With taxpayers now having an eighty percent stake in AIG, we believe that review of these reports is critical for Congress to better understand how AIG became financially crippled and in assessing whether taxpayer dollars are being properly used for the stabilization of this once prosperous company," said letters the two congressmen wrote to the Securities Exchange Commission and Justice Department.

Under the provisions of the settlements, "Mr. Cole evidently had routine access to the highest levels of the company and participated as an observer at AIG board meetings," they said.

In effect, they wrote, "Mr. Cole had a seat at the table as the company decided to oust two CEOs; developed its strategy in the midst of the housing bubble and its subsequent collapse; and made critical decisions concerning AIG Financial Products, allocating retention payments, generating options to produce liquidity and ultimately requesting taxpayer capital injections from the Federal Reserve and Treasury now amounting to $180 billion."

The hearing tomorrow at which Mr. Greenberg will testify is the first in a series of hearings focusing on a comprehensive review of AIG's rise and fall.

The hearings are another part of the committee's ongoing investigation into AIG's collapse, the congressmen said.

In testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday, April 2, Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, who led AIG for 38 years until his retirement in early 2005, will present a new plan for structuring the federal government's assistance to AIG to increase the likelihood that tens of billions of dollars are repaid to the American taxpayer.

Mr. Greenberg said in a statement that he would explain "why the government's approach thus far- which has focusedon the liquidation of AIG -has failed and will continue to fail to repay the American taxpayer."

The announcement of his coming testimony said his approach for fixing the company "relies on government guarantees and long-term government-funded debt and encourages private capital to replace government ownership over time. Most important it requires AIG to continue operating and building its core insurance businesses as the mechanism for paying back the government.

Mr. Greenberg through personal holdings, foundations and companies he controls is a major stockholder in AIG.

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