Maurice (Hank) Greenberg told the New York Post he was ?stunned? when American International Group Inc. removed him as chief executive officer in March amid an accounting probe.

?To say I was stunned when I was notified ... by telephone ... that I was no longer CEO is an understatement,?? he told Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams in an interview. ?Nor was I given any information. Nor was there any attempt to discuss anything. It was a fait accompli,? he told the paper.

Greenberg, who has since been accused of securities fraud in a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, had been CEO of the world?s largest insurer for almost 40 years.

He told Adams that people he thought were close friends ?became a lot less close,? the Post reported.

?Many you think loyal are suddenly not,? the paper quoted him as saying.

Greenberg, 80, said he lets the lawyers work on Spitzer?s suit and regulatory probes while he travels.

?I own four large agencies that specialise in business and private equity, and we?re acquiring more insurance companies,? he told the paper.

Greenberg also told Adams he wouldn?t have had his sons Jeffrey and Evan work for him at AIG if he could do his career over again, and he was probably ?harsher on them than they liked?.

Jeffrey left AIG in 1995 to join insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos., where he stepped down as CEO last year amid allegations the company accepted kickbacks from insurers. Evan left AIG in 2000 and is now CEO of ACE Ltd. ? Bloomberg