Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, was forced yesterday to defend his handling of the rescue of insurance giant AIG as he faced fresh attacks on his integrity over the failure to disclose details of the bail-out.
Congressional critics have accused the New York Federal Reserve, led by Mr Geithner during the September 2008 rescue, of trying to impede efforts to examine the decision and conceal the multibillion-dollar payments to large banks.
In testimony to the House oversight committee, Mr Geithner said the rescue of the insurance group was “motivated solely by what we believed to be in the best interests of the American people” and he had not intervened on which details should be made public.