US President George W Bush received low-interest loans more than a decade ago from an oil company where he served as a director, benefiting from insider transactions he now wants banned as part of a crackdown on corporate misconduct, the US administration confirmed today.
The revelation, reported in today's New York Timesand Washington Post, could bolster Democratic efforts to tar Mr Bush and his administration with the public dismay over company accounting scandals that have shaken investor confidence.
The White House defended the president, saying the 1986 and 1988 loans from Harken Energy Corporation were "entirely appropriate and fully disclosed."
"What has happened in recent years is that there have been abuses and there is a need to reform, and that's what the president is doing," White House spokeswoman Ms Claire Buchan said.
The low-interest rate loans, which totaled more than $180,000, allowed Mr Bush to buy 105,000 Harken shares through a stock option program for senior officials, administration officials said, confirming the newspaper reports based on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr Bush on Tuesday called on companies to stop providing these types of loans to corporate officers as part of a broader crackdown on controversial business dealings and accounting irregularities.
Companies have increasingly provided low-interest loans to top executives, but the practice was assailed after WorldCom reported massive accounting irregularities last month.