WASHINGTON - AMERICAN International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives, after an earlier round of payments set off a national furor, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

AIG does not need the permission of Kenneth Feinberg, appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts, the Post said.

But AIG officials have been reluctant to move forward without political cover from the government, according to the report.

Mr Feinberg has the power to reject pay plans he deems excessive at companies which benefited from large infusions from the government's US$700 billion (S$1 trillion) bank bailout fund. Mr Feinberg also has authority to review compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at those firms. AIG is among the companies whose pay practices the government now oversees.

New York-based AIG remains the focus of intense scrutiny, after becoming one in a string of corporate calamities and a touchstone for public fury. The huge volume of credit default swaps - a form of insurance against bond defaults - sold by AIG, coupled with rising levels of defaulted mortgage and other debt, threatened the company's existence and prompted the government to step in.

Government aid to AIG totals about US$180 billion.

The US$450 million in bonuses that AIG allocated in 2008 for employees, including to traders in the financial products unit that brought it to the brink of collapse, fuelled public and congressional outrage.

The first installment of those payments earlier this year sparked legislation in Congress to slap punishing taxes on big bonuses at AIG and other companies bailed out by taxpayers, though the Senate didn't act on that plan.-- AP, REUTERS