Bush names prosecutor as TARP inspector general

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush intends to nominate Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Barofsky to be the special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program at the Treasury Department, the White House said on Friday.

Barofsky is currently assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and chief of the Mortgage Fraud Group, the White House said in a statement. Before that he was lead prosecutor in the Southern District's Securities Fraud Unit.

Congress approved the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program to help lift financial institutions out of their current crisis.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Tom Hals)