U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday weighed in to a simmering controversy over the Fed's actions in bailing out major insurer AIG in 2008, asking a government auditor to conduct a full review of the matter.

Bernanke, in a letter to Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, said the Fed -- the U.S. central bank -- would make available to the Government Accountability Office all documents and personnel necessary to conduct the review.

In this spirit, to afford the public the most complete possible understanding of our decisions and actions in this matter, and to provide a comprehensive response to questions that have been raised by members of Congress, the Federal Reserve would welcome a full review by GAO of all aspects of our involvement in the extension of credit to AIG, Bernanke wrote.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Ben Bernanke Aig