BREAKING NEWS

Fed watchdog finds no Watergate, Iraq weapons link

By REUTERS

APRIL 3, 2012 21:37

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve did not help the Watergate burglars get cash, stonewall congressional inquiries in the 1970s political scandal or help Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein get a $5.5 billion loan to purchase weapons in the 1980s, the agency's inspector general said in a report posted on the Fed's website on Tuesday.

The release touches on subjects seldom associated with the US central bank. It comes after an inquiry that grew out of allegations made by US Representative Ron Paul, a Fed critic and Republican presidential candidate, at a congressional hearing in February 2010.

Following the hearing, then-House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank asked the Fed to investigate what, if any, inappropriate role the central bank played in the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon or weapons purchases by Saddam Hussein.

"We did not find any evidence of undue political interference with Federal Reserve officials related to the 1972 Watergate burglary or Iraq weapons purchases during the 1980s," the Fed's inspector general told Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in a letter dated March 30.

"Specifically, regarding the first Watergate allegation, we did not find any evidence of undue political interference with or improper actions by Federal Reserve officials related to the cash found on the Watergate burglars."

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