Skilling’s Mother Says Son Should Have Known

The mother of former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling says he should have known the company was facing extreme financial trouble, Newsweek magazine reported.

“When you are the CEO and you are on the board of directors, you are supposed to know what’s going on with the rest of the company,” the magazine quoted 77-year-old Betty Skilling as saying in an interview before her son testified last week. “You can’t get off the hook with me there.... He’s going to have to beat this the best way he can,” she said.

Testifying voluntarily Thursday before the House Energy subcommittee on oversight and investigation, Skilling took no blame for the bankrupt energy trader’s collapse and said he had no reason to believe it was in financial trouble when he left the company in August.

Skilling said at the time that he was resigning “for personal reasons.”

Betty Skilling had her doubts, according to Newsweek. “I don’t think he knew he was in such high water, but I think he must have had some idea because he resigned,” she said.

Skilling’s father, Tom Skilling, said, “I’ve never known him to do a dishonest thing in his life.”

Meanwhile Monday, California officials said Skilling actively pitched one of Enron’s partnerships to a California investment fund in 1997.

Controller Kathleen Connell said a transcript of a December 1997 meeting of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) board of directors showed Skilling answered detailed questions about the investment deal, known as Jedi II.

Connell released parts of the transcript to the San Jose Mercury News, editing out all but her own comments in deference to CalPERS lawyers, who ruled that a full transcript of the closed door meeting was not a part of the public record.