WASHINGTON—Former American International Group Chief Executive Officer Maurice Greenberg arrived here to tell a House panel how the government should fix AIG and heard a congressman call him the wrong witness because of his legal problems.
Mr. Greenberg was forced to leave the conglomerate he headed for nearly 40 years in 2005 in the middle of an accounting scandal.
Testifying before the House Government Reform Committee, he said the government plan to bail out AIG has failed, and selling the company at this time “would bring the government only pennies on the dollar for their investment in AIG.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking minority member of the panel, criticized the calling of Mr. Greenberg as a witness, saying he was “troubled” Mr. Greenberg was the only witness at the hearing.
The congressman said Mr. Greenberg brought with him a “dark cloud which the majority, in its briefing memo, dismisses as ‘not the subject of this hearing.’”
Rep. Issa also charged that by having Mr. Greenberg give his opinions on why the AIG bailout strategy should be changed, “I’m worried that the committee is growing out of touch with the contemporary bailout issues.”
He explained that the committee should be talking to the current chairman and CEO, Edward Liddy, as well as officials at the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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