NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam has objected to the government's request to schedule his criminal trial ahead of a parallel SEC case, saying the move could compromise the defence's case.

"Having enjoyed the publicity of commencing its civil case prior to indicting its criminal case, the government should address their problems" directly to the court, "rather than attempt to manufacture the order of its trials solely in a manner that suits its strategic interests," attorney John Dowd said in a letter to US District Judge Richard Holwell.

"The government's own strategic charging deacons, criminal and civil, should not be permitted to compromise the defendants' ability to defend themselves fully against its allegations," the letter said.

The letter came one day after Rajaratnam and a co-defendant Danielle Chiesi pleaded innocent to securities fraud charges in what US prosecutors describe as the biggest hedge fund insider trading case ever.

The government requested before Holwell that the trial begin in June or July, since a parallel US Securities and Exchange Commission civil case is scheduled for August and potential witnesses would be less likely to testify openly at the SEC trial if the criminal case has not been resolved.

The SEC case will proceed before a different judge.

Holwell said he was not prepared to set a firm trial date, but added: "That might wind up to be the schedule."

Dowd also said the government has rebuffed requests by the defence to produce as much as 100 hours of wiretap intercepts that are expected to make up a large part of the government's case against Rajaratnam and Chiesi.

"The defendants, without the benefit of discovery, including but not limited to the wire tap intercepts, are not in a position to assess whether a trial date as proposed by the government is realistic," Dowd said.

Prosecutors said on Monday that they expected to get the intercepts to the defence within a week.

Twenty-one people have been criminally or civilly charged in the insider trading case involving employees of companies including International Business Machines Corp, McKinsey & Co and Intel Capital, an arm of Intel Corp .

Prosecutors contend that Rajaratnam was at the center of that illegal information network. Chiesi is accused of supplying tips to Rajaratnam and of trading on the information.