Liddy says AIG on track for 5-year payback

WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- American International Group Inc. chief Edward Liddy said the beleaguered U.S. insurance giant could repay government bailout funds within 5 years.

Liddy, chairman and chief executive officer of the company that has accepted $180 billion in federal bailout funding, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday that market conditions need to remain stable for AIG to keep to that time line, Business Insurance reported Thursday.

Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., who pressed Liddy for details of the company's plans, said he had requested the plan earlier, but was told "disclosing the plan 'would undermine its efforts to achieve its goals for the benefit of American taxpayers.'"

He called the AIG's undisclosed plans "Project Destiny."

In response to questions, Liddy said that bankruptcy would have "sent shock waves through the system," and that the company was not using bailout funds to thwart its competitors. "We just don't do that," Liddy said.