HE ruled arguably the biggest insurance company in the world with an iron fist for almost four decades.

Then three years ago, Mr Maurice Greenberg was forced to step down from the American International Group (AIG) amid accusations of fraud.

Today, as the 83-year-old watches the empire he built teeter on the brink of collapse, he has extended a helping hand to his former company.

But is Mr Greenberg, who is AIG's largest stakeholder, for real?

After all, his offers to help the company have so far been snubbed.

Mr Greenberg said on Tuesday that he had made 'repeated requests' in the past two weeks to meet with AIG chief executive Robert Willumstad and the company's board 'to offer my suggestions and help', reported the Wall Street Journal.

'Those requests have been ignored,' he said.

Mr Greenberg had spent the year increasingly frustrated at not being able to help steer AIG out of trouble.

Ulterior motives?

But does the former CEO have more up his sleeve than just making suggestions?

Before the US government announced its US$85 billion ($122b) bailout that gives it an 79.9 per cent stake in AIG in exchange, Mr Greenberg and a group of affiliated shareholders had appeared to be trying to make their own moves.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that they amended on Tuesday, they indicated they could be buying AIG units or trying to take control of the company.

But in an interview, Mr Greenberg had said that he hoped the government would help AIG get through its cash squeeze. Because without a loan or injection of capital from the outside, he added, the insurance giant is doomed.

'The patient is alive; it's not dead,' he said.

Even as AIG was begging the Feds for a lifeline, Mr Greenberg wrote a letter to Mr Willumstad to let him know he was there to help, reported Forbes.

He wrote: 'I do not know whether or not it is now too late to save AIG. But we owe it to AIG's shareholders, creditors and our country to try.' In the letter, he expressed disappointment at the AIG management for turning down his recent offers of help.

'I am truly bewildered at the unwillingness of you and the board to accept my help,' he wrote.

So what exactly is Mr Greenberg up to?

Is he really there to give a helping hand to AIG in its darkest hour? Or is he cooking up a plan to try and take back the company whose success he was mostly responsible for?

Only a few months ago, he had publicly castigated his AIG successors accusing them of having squandered the company's credibility.

But could one blame Mr Greenberg for wanting his empire back?

Rise to top

After all, when he was at the helm, he turned AIG into the world's biggest insurance company.

Born on May 4, 1925, he had left his family farm in the state of New York as a teenager to join the military. He was among the US Rangers who took part in the 1944 Allied invasion to free France.

After the war, he went back to law school and joined AIG in 1962 and earned a reputation as a hard-driven deal maker and fanatical micro-manager.

Five years later, he became its CEO.

Under Greenberg's leadership, AIG became an industry innovator, earning big premiums for high-risk business involving individuals and companies.

It also expanded into other financial group activities like portfolio management.

Mr Greenberg also took AIG into communist Hungary, Poland and Romania.

He went on the first Asia trade mission by the elder President George Bush in 1992, which helped expand trade in Japan as well as secure new opportunities in China, where AIG was established in 1919.

In 1980, AIG set up the first foreign joint venture with China's state insurance company and links with China remain strong.

Today, Mr Greenberg remains mired in a number of legal battles stemming from his tenure at AIG.

But whether or not he wants the company back for sentimental reasons or just to prove a point to his business nemeses, AIG definitely has a place in his heart.

Professor Phillip Phan, who teaches management at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore, said in a Bloomberg report: 'AIG was his baby - they took it away from him, and he's been trying to find a way to get it back. This is the perfect opportunity.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on September 18, 2008.