New York - Maurice Greenberg, a major AIG shareholder who founded and led the insurance giant American Insurance Group until 2006, says the terms of the 123-billion-dollar US government bail-out are unfair and could lead to destruction of the company.

In a letter posted Tuesday at the Securities Exchange Commission, Greenberg pushed AIG chief Edward Liddy to renegotiate the deal with the government.

In exchange for a two-year bridge loan in mid September at what Greenberg says amounts to a a 14-per-cent annual interest rate, the US government took ownership of 80 per cent of the company.

"It's a lose/lose plan," Greenberg wrote, saying thousands of jobs and millions of shareholder investments will be lost because the company will be forced to "engage in a fire-sale of profitable assets."

Greenberg said AIG should receive the same "far less onerous" borrowing terms the government has extended to other companies it is helping.

The US government threw a lifeline to AIG in mid September, as the US housing bubble collapsed and drew one company after another into bankruptcy or mergers and sent the stock market plunging.

AIG was a key player in the downfall of the nation's finance system, selling insurance guarantees to holders of mortgage assets which turned sour and which it could no longer cover.

Greenberg emphasized that AIG has more than 1 trillion dollars in assets that provide "sufficient protection to American taxpayers." (dpa)