A defiant US Army Secretary Thomas White, the highest-ranking former Enron executive in the Bush administration, denied strongly on Thursday that he had been involved in any wrongdoing at the collapsed energy trader.
In a combative appearance before a Senate Commerce subcommittee, White said he had been unaware of sham electricity trading detailed in recently released Enron documents, which mentioned the division where he had been vice chairman, Enron Energy Services.
Energy trading was conducted by a different group, Enron Wholesale Services, said White, who professed ignorance of shady trading schemes dubbed "Fat Boy" and "Get Shorty" the company used during the 2000-2001 California power crisis.
"I am ashamed of what's happened to that corporation, and the damage that it has done to all of us," White declared.
Enron, a former major contributor to Bush's campaigns, filed for bankruptcy in December amid revelations about off-the-books partnerships that were used to conceal debt. The filing came about six months after White left the company to become Army secretary.
Presenting himself as a believer in Enron until the end, White said he was appalled at revelations about the company's business practices, including conflicts of interest by Enron's former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow.
If he had known about these things sooner, he said he would have stayed at the company and tried to repair them.
"If I had any idea that that kind of tragedy and hardship was coming ...I would never have left Enron in the first place, I would have stayed and fought it out, trying to fix it."
But Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said White's answers were "evasive" and demanded his resignation.
"I believe it is in the best interest of the country for you to step down as the secretary of the Army as I believe today's hearing will spark more investigations and more distraction from your crucial duties," Boxer said in a letter to White.
White, a retired brigadier general, worked at Enron for 11 years, rising to vice chairman of Enron Energy Services in 1998.
Rash of scandals
He is just one of several Bush administration officials whose business records have come under the spotlight in the wake of a rash of scandals at US companies, which have contributed to a huge sell-off in US stocks.
These include Vice President Dick Cheney, who was chief executive of Halliburton, which is now under investigation by the SEC, and the president himself, whose stock sales while at a Texas oil company have come under fire.
White's former division at Enron was mentioned in a December 2000 Enron lawyers' memo detailing how the company's traders boosted profits during the California power crisis.
White said his division was not responsible for these trades and denied accusations by some former employees at Enron Energy Services that he knew about questionable accounting practices there, adding that he could get "thousands" of other employees, if necessary, to back him up.
When he became Army secretary in May 2001, White reported up to US$100 million in Enron stock and options -- more than any other senior administration official. But he delayed some stock sales until the autumn as the company's troubles emerged and share price plunged, and netted US$12.1 million.
White said he had made more than US$10 million while at Enron and had not considered giving it to shareholders who lost substantially from Enron's collapse.
"I don't consider the gains for running the business in a responsible way ill-gotten," White said.
(China Daily July 20, 2002)
