Mr Grassley said in an interview with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT that AIG executives should follow the Japanese method and ‘come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry. And then either do one of two things, resign or go commit suicide.’
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Outrage over AIG bonus payout
Pay back or commit suicide
18 March 2009
WASHINGTON - US SENATOR Chuck Grassley AIG executives led the chorus of outrage over AIG’s huge bonus payout using taxpayer bailout funds, saying the employees should either return the money or commit suicide in what he described as the Japanese style of taking responsibility.
Although he spent much of Tuesday backtracking his earlier statements, he still called or corporate titans to take responsibility for grievous errors in judgment.
Japanese executives often take responsibility for scandals within their companies by issuing public apologies on camera and stepping down. It is rare, however, that business executives have gone so far as to take their lives. In feudal Japan, ritual suicide was considered an honorable death under the samurai warrior ethic.
AIG has received more than US$170 billion (S$260 billion) from US taxpayers. With bailouts in hand, AIG has paid out tens of billions of dollars to banks, municipal governments and other financial institutions around the world.
On Monday, Mr. Grassley said in an interview with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT that AIG executives should follow the Japanese method and ‘come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry. And then either do one of two things, resign or go commit suicide.’
Lawmakers are expressing outrage that AIG awarded US$165 million in bonuses to its executives after accepting a US$173 billion government bailout. The company also disclosed that it has budgeted US$57 million in ‘retention’ pay for employees who will be dismissed.
In the Bloomberg interview on Tuesday, Mr. Grassley said he’s been saying since October that ‘we need to show some act of contrition on the part of CEOs that run their corporations into the ground.’
‘That’s truer of AIG than it is any other organisation that we’ve been trying to help,’ the senator said.
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