The contrast could not have been more stark. As Martin Sullivan, the former chief executive of AIG, testified before Congress that a single accounting rule had caused his firm's near collapse, Henry Waxman, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives' chief investigative committee, flashed images of a luxury hotel on to television screens.

In a moment of drama usually reserved for US court rooms, Mr Waxman showed off pictures of the grand staircase, sparkling fountain and white columns at the St Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California. AIG executives had - according to the congressmen - convened there for a week-long retreat just one week after the US Treasury saved it from certain failure with an $85bn (€62bn, £48bn) bail-out. Bills showed the fallen insurer - and, some argued, US taxpayers - had paid nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals, and $23,000 in spa charges. AIG insiders yesterday admitted after the hearing that the company paid for the retreat but said it was designed as a reward for a group of high performing self-employed life insurance agents - not AIG executives. Even if the distinction had been made, it would not have been likely to make a difference.