Senators Call for Investigation of CFTC Report (Ayesha Rascoe)

  WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Several U.S. lawmakers urged the Inspector General of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week to investigate a study released by the futures market regulator that concluded speculators are not to blame for high oil prices.

   Four Democratic Senators sent a letter to Inspector General Roy Lavik on Thursday questioning the CFTC's role in an interagency task force interim report that said "supply and demand factors" were responsible for the surge in fuel prices.{xtypo_quote_right} "We are greatly disturbed that although CFTC staff obviously knew that the underlying data used to prepare the interim report was seriously flawed, the interim report was nonetheless publicly released," the lawmakers said. {/xtypo_quote_right}

    In particular, the lawmakers called the interim report's timing "suspicious." The report was released in July just a few days before the Senate voted on a bill aimed at reining in excessive speculation in futures markets.

   "The report, which specifically addressed speculation, appears to have been created and released to influence that Senate vote, which would be highly improper in our view," the lawmakers said in the letter.

   The senators -- Maria Cantwell of Washington, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Bill Nelson of Florida and Ron Wyden of Oregon -- also said the data used for the report may not be accurate.

more 

Read More: Reuters