US Attorney General: No Wall St Crime `Witch Hunt`

`What this nation is facing is a result of fraud or misconduct, we`ll find it and hold people accountable,` Holder told reporters.

New U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday he would prosecute Wall Street crime but was not planning any "witch hunts" despite mounting outrage among Americans over corporate excess.

"We're not going to go out on any witch hunts," Holder told reporters after being sworn in as President Barack Obama's top law officer.

"But yet, we'll drill down and see ... to the extent that what this nation is facing is a result of fraud or misconduct, we'll find it and hold people accountable," he said.

The FBI, which is part of the Justice Department, has been investigating a number of companies at the center of the current financial crisis for possible wrongdoing, but has yet to bring any high-profile cases against companies or top executives.

Obama, joining a growing chorus of criticism in newspaper editorials, recently described as "shameful" the fact that some Wall Street executives took big bonuses just as their companies were being bailed out with public funds.

Other Democrats have minced few words as Wall Street titans were revealed to have approved spending on private jets and expensive office renovations even as the economy teetered on the brink of collapse.

"We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer ... They don't get it!" Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said on Friday in remarks that were widely repeated on cable television news shows.

Despite the fury, corporate wrongdoing cases with their complex financial records typically take a long time to investigate and prosecutors have to find sufficient evidence of intentional criminal acts to ensure cases stand up in court.

NO SCAPEGOATS

Holder's "witch hunt" comments suggested that while he would aggressively look for evidence of wrongdoing that contributed to the collapse of lending markets, the Obama administration would not try to score political points with a widespread roundup of executives as scapegoats.

Holder said his first official act would be to attend a national security meeting at the White House Tuesday afternoon.

Obama has designated Holder to oversee plans to close the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and develop new policies on detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects.

Holder told reporters his first priority has to be to "keep the American people safe" from crime and terrorist attack.

But he also vowed to vigorously enforce the civil rights, environmental and antitrust laws -- areas that Democratic critics charge the Republican Bush administration neglected during the past eight years.

The Justice Department during the Bush administration also was criticized for political interference in decision such as hiring and firing of employees.

"There shall be no place for political favoritism," Holder told employees after he was sworn in.