Official Testifies on Freddie Mac Inquiry

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WASHINGTON (AP)--A federal regulator told Congress Thursday that attorneys investigating accounting problems at housing finance giant Freddie Mac showed a ``lack of candor'' that prompted him to begin a government inquiry.

Armando Falcon, the outgoing director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight--which supervises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the other big government-sponsored mortgage finance company--also said that Freddie Mac's accounting troubles were more extensive than many policymakers had realized.

Falcon told the Senate Banking Committee that the attorneys hired by Freddie Mac's board of directors to investigate ``had not been fully forthcoming'' with regulators in late May.

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``Their lack of cooperation is unfortunate and raises questions about their seriousness,'' Baker said. ``They cannot put off the subcommittee's questions indefinitely, however, and we will revisit this discussion at a later date, when I may have no choice


http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/ap/ap_story.html/Financial/AP.V8519.AP-Freddie-Mac-Sha.html