Tuesday April 21, 06:26 PM
US bank bailout triggers nearly 20 fraud probes
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US auditors of a 700-billion-dollar bank bailout program said Tuesday they had launched nearly 20 fraud probes, as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed transparency for the program.
Geithner said most US banks were in good shape despite the economic crunch, but promised tighter conditions for any new extension in bailout funds as his team finalizes "stress tests" of leading lenders.
"Currently, the vast majority of banks have more capital than they need to be considered well capitalized by their regulators," he told the Congressional Oversight Panel, which oversees the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Grilled by the panel's expert members on potential problems associated with the costly TARP bailout, Geithner stressed: "I believe in the value of transparency, accountability and oversight."
Neil Barofsky, the special TARP inspector-general, said in a quarterly report to Congress that his office "has initiated, to date, almost 20 preliminary and full criminal investigations."
He wrote in the report that details would not be released "unless and until public action is taken."
But he said the cases "include large corporate and securities fraud matters affecting TARP investments, tax matters, insider trading, public corruption, and mortgage-modification fraud."
Geithner said Treasury officials estimate there is "at least 109.6 billion dollars" still available from the original TARP funds, which were rushed through by Congress last October to prevent a system-wide industry failure.
Another 25 billion dollars will be paid back over the next year from capital injected into commercial banks, giving the government a total of 134.6 billion to dispense if needed, the Treasury chief said.
He told the oversight panel that "we cannot allow doubts about the viability of major institutions to undermine the financial system as a whole."
"The US government must continue those policies critical to sustaining confidence in the core of the system."
But the panel's chairwoman, Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren, noted significant public discontent with the TARP scheme.
"People are angry because they are paying for programs that haven't been fully explained and that have no apparent benefit for their families or the economy as a whole, but seem to leave enough cash in the system for lavish bonuses and golf outings," she said.
"None of this seems fair."
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