Buffett 'unaware' of AIG deal details

NEW YORK - Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett never received detailed briefings on a deal with the American International Group that is now at the centre of a mushrooming investigation, his company said on Tuesday.

Billionaire Buffett, who has been drawn into the insurance industry scandal, has also agreed to be interviewed by investigators looking into the controversial deal between his company's General Reinsurance Co. unit and AIG.

While Berkshire Hathaway said on Tuesday it was cooperating with the investigation, it denied what it called recent press accounts that Buffett was briefed on the "nature" and "structure" of the AIG deal in 2000-2001.

"To the contrary, Mr Buffett was not briefed on how the transactions were to be structured or on any improper use or purpose of the transactions," the statement said.

The company said other staff had also voluntarily given interviews to authorities.

Berkshire Hathaway's statement came the day after AIG announced that insurance industry titan Maurice "Hank " Greenberg would step down as chairman this week amid the investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The SEC has subpoenaed 12 executives of AIG in an expanding probe of the insurer, sources close to the case have said.

Government investigators had focused initially on the deal with General Re, but have since expanded the AIG probe to cover 10 other potentially questionable transactions and possible accounting errors valued at about US$1 billion, sources have said.

- REUTERS