Paulson to testify July 16 to House panel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will testify July 16 before a U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the government's role in Bank of America Corp's (BAC.N) acquisition of Merrill Lynch, lawmakers said on Monday.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the role of regulators in the purchase, and whether the bank properly notified investors of its concerns about Merrill's troubled financial state.

In a letter to Paulson, committee chairman Edolphus Towns, and Dennis Kucinich, chairman of a related subcommittee, asked Paulson to be ready to answer whether Bank of America needed or requested the $15 billion cash infusion it got from the U.S. government in October 2008 and the $20 billion it got in January 2009.

Paulson's testimony will mark his first high-profile public appearance since he left office in January. He presided over the Treasury during the most tumultuous financial period since the Great Depression and was a key figure in prompting Congress last year to authorize a $700 billion financial market bailout fund.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who worked closely with Paulson, testified before the committee last week. He denied that the Fed inappropriately persuaded Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis to continue with the deal, despite Lewis' concern about Merrill's condition.

Lewis had told Bank of America's board that federal officials said if he did not go through with the transaction, "the Treasury and the Fed would remove the Board and management of the Corporation," according to a transcript of that meeting.

The committee has released hundreds of pages of documents that it subpoenaed from the Federal Reserve, which has shined a spotlight on the internal deliberations that took place during the time the deal was being negotiated.

Towns and Kucinich, both Democrats, also said they want Paulson to answer whether the government had any role in persuading Bank of America to acquire Merrill Lynch.

Republicans on the committee have accused regulators of strong-arming Bank of America to complete the Merrill acquisition, while Democrats have often focused on whether Bank of America should have told investors sooner about Merrill's financial troubles.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)