Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(March 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Follow up to the Enron Story.
 In
grueling cross questioning by Senate and House Sub-committee
law makers, former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling
declared that he was ignorant of any of the Companies questionable
accounting practices. He apparently could not recall being
warned by other senior Enron executives of improper off-the-books
partnerships and the possible impropriety of such partnerships.
Mr. Skilling stated that on the day that he left the Company,
(August 14th, 2001), he believed that the Company was in
a strong and viable financial condition.
He forgot to mention of course that he apparently made a
multi-million dollar profit from his sale of Enron stock
before the price of shares plummeted from around $90 per
share to less than one dollar per share.
 Prior
to Mr. Skilling's testimony, Mr. Andrew S. Fastow, (Enron's
former Chief Financial Officer), and three other Enron executives,
Jeffrey McMahon, Jordan Mintz, and Michael J. Kopper, all
invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against compelled self
incrimination.
Most of these Enron Company executives have been accused
of making enormous sums of money from the partnerships,
which investigators suggest were used to conceal debt and
unprofitable investments from Enron's shareholders and employees.
 Mr.
Lay, the Chairman and CEO, who initially refused to testify
in front of congressional sub-committees investigating the
Enron debacle, eventually agreed to appear and on the advise
of his legal counsel also invoked his fifth amendment rights
.
The subterfuge continues.
Several other Companies appear to be following in Enron's
footsteps and are being challenged by the S.E.C., (Securities
and Exchange Commission), for possible fraudulent accounting
practices. It's a tough world for the small investor out
there.
In recent testimony by Enron Vice President Sharon Watkins,
she stated that in spite of denials by Mr. Geoffrey Skilling
that he had no knowledge of the weak financial situation
of Enron and the questionable accounting practices aimed
at hiding severe losses and boosting stock prices, she believed
that he had full knowledge of the situation.
We are lead to believe that the investigative committees
will eventually find out where most of the Enron money went,
now we need to know what actions will be taken, if any,
to obtain some form of restitution for the Enron employees.
I wouldn't bank on that happening any day soon, if ever.
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Follow
Up To The Enron Story
