WASHINGTON — Twenty-eight Republican members of Congress have urged the Department of Justice to investigate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for mortgage fraud.

The group, led by the ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala), has sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey charging that fraud, mismanagement, missed opportunities to rein in the enterprises and overzealous lending under the Community Reinvestment Act are at the center of the troubles in the mortgage-related markets.

The group minced few words in urging Mukasey to add the GSEs to the Justice Department's already underway “Operation Malicious Mortgage” probe.

The lawmakers also alleged that sweetheart loans given to former Fannie and Freddie executives–the “friends of Angelo/Countrywide VIP mortgage program”–be included in the probe, naming several of them as having been recipients of loans on favorable terms from the company.

Angelo Mozillo is the former heard of Countrywide. Countrywide is now owned by the Bank of America.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are currently under investigation by the U.S. Attorney in New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission.