Posted on 01/15/2002 6:03:12 PM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - David Duncan, who was fired on Tuesday by auditor Andersen for his alleged role in destroying documents related to its review of Enron Corp.'s books, will meet with congressional investigators on Wednesday, a spokesman for the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee said Tuesday.
"Mr. Duncan will be meeting with our investigators tomorrow," said Ken Johnson, the spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday. The panel has been probing Andersen's role in the collapse of the energy trading giant last fall.
"Frankly, now that he's been fired, he may be a little more motivated to be cooperative," Johnson said. "Prior to being terminated, he delivered six boxes of personal files and records to the committee and we're in the process of reviewing them right now."
Earlier on Tuesday, Andersen said thousands of e-mails and large numbers of paper documents related to Enron were destroyed shortly after lead partner Duncan learned on Oct. 23 of a request by the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about the audit of Enron.
Duncan could not be reached immediately for comment.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee also said it would meet later with Sherron Watkins, the Enron executive who wrote a letter to Chief Executive Kenneth Lay last August in which she raised concerns about the company's accounting.
"We're in the process of setting up a meeting with her," Johnson said at a press briefing.
FIRST STEP TO ASSIGN BLAME
The firing of Duncan was the first public step by the accounting firm to assign individual blame for the problems with its Enron audits. The Houston-based energy giant last month filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Three other partners responsible for the Enron work were placed on leave by Andersen.
"This is a useful beginning, but there is much more to be done," Rep. John Dingell, the ranking Democrat on the House panel, said in a statement read by his spokeswoman.
The collapse of the company came after posting its first quarterly loss in more than four years on Oct. 16, as it took $1 billion in charges against earnings and cut shareholders equity by $1.2 billion.
Enron debt was listed under partnerships, considered special-purpose entities, in effect keeping the debt off its own books. Andersen was responsible for auditing the company's balance sheets.
Earlier on Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange formally suspended trading in Enron shares and related securities while moving to delist the stock. Its shares last traded for 67 cents on Jan. 10, far below the record $90.56 hit in August 2000.
When targeted in enormous financial scandal, avoid firing co-conspirators.
I thought a guy named Fired Andersen Partner married somebody named Meet Investigators.
This isn't the Tinfoil Cheesemoose thread, is it.
Sorry.
but it fell off.
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