Citigroup has hired the well-connected Barbour Griffiths & Rogers PA firm for help on corporate governance issues.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour and Ed Rogers, who served in the first Bush White House, and was a top aide to Bush-Quayle campaign manager the late Lee Atwater, spearhead the Citigroup team.

They are assisted by BG&R's director of legislative affairs Jennifer Larkin, senior counsel & VP of federal affairs Dan Murphy and VP Loren Monroe, who was business development coordinator at Cassidy & Assocs. BG&R is an Interpublic Group unit.

Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney brokerage house faces various probes concerning potential analysts' conflict of interest and how it allocated shares in initial public offerings. On October 14, Citicorp denied charges in a lawsuit filed by New York State Comptroller Carl McCall--
who is also running for Governor--that its Travelers insurance unit made improper loans to Bernie Ebbers, the former CEO of WorldCom.

Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill alluded to the various investigations during an Oct. 15 conference call with analysts to report a 23 percent rise in third-quarter profit. "I can't believe the company we're about to talk about is the same as the one you've been reading about in the newspapers," said Weill.

Citigroup's biggest shareholder Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal also gave a thumb's up to his investment. Following the release of the financials, he said "all those doubters should shut up. The stock has been hammered like the company is going out of business," said the Prince, who had 15-minutes of fame after former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani refused his $10 million donation for the families impacted by Sept. 11.

Citigroup trades in the $35 range, off its $52.50 12-month high.