Republicans blame the government of President Barack Obama for not having done enough to ensure that AIG executives did not get their hands on the fat bonuses after receiving public bail-out money. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has fallen under heavy criticism for not having averted the release of bonuses to AIG executives. Construed as taken from the bail-out funds were bonuses of more than $1 million each for 73 AIG executives, including 11 who are no longer active employees.

The US Congress has pledged to present a measure to curtail the executives’ bonuses of the bailed-out insurer AIG and to recover through taxes the money the company received from the US government that now owns 80 percent of AIG.

Current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said she has instructed a number of committees with jurisdiction over financial matters to submit a bill to recover the money ‘wasted’ by companies such as American International Group (AIG). “We have asked repeatedly the executives who have brought our financial system to the brink of collapse to be responsible enough to return their bonuses and other compensation,” Pelosi said.

Obama has earlier asked for all possible legal means to block the multimillion dollar bonuses of AIG executives. Official sources indicate that the White House learned of such millionaire bonuses only late last week. Senator Richard Shelby, senior Republican on the Banking Committee of the Senate, said that Geithner should prevent the payment of such bonuses, but avoided ruling on whether Geithner should submit his resignation after the scandal.

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Via BBC