Enron CEO Lay Won’t Attend Senate Hearing

Enron Corp. Chief Executive Kenneth Lay will not attend a hearing on the downfall of the former energy trading giant called for Tuesday by the Senate Commerce Committee, Lay’s lawyer said.

Robert Bennett, who is representing Enron, told Reuters that Lay may go before the committee in the future, “but not on Tuesday.”

“Mr. Lay is cooperating with the committee,” he added.

Invited last week along with Lay to testify before the panel were an executive from the Arthur Andersen accounting firm that audited Enron’s books, an Enron shareholder from Florida, a union lawyer, a law professor and others.

Committee Chairman Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) said the panel would focus on the collapse of Enron, which filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec.2.

The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday held the first congressional hearing on the Enron affair. Lay declined to appear at that hearing. Lawyers for Enron later met with committee staff.

Meanwhile, Enron has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez in Manhattan to hold a hearing Tuesday to approve the procedures for auctioning off its controlling stake in its Internet-based trading operation.

Reuters