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Univ. of Texas law dean testifies in Enron hearing AUSTIN(U-Wire)— William Powers, dean of the University of Texas School of Law, testified Monday before a congressional committee hearing regarding his investigation of Enron, a Houston-based energy management company. The Enron board of directors appointed Powers in October 2001 to conduct a fact-finding investigation. His duties include serving as chairman of a special committee responsible for reviewing the company's transactions and corresponding with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The committee can penalize anyone it decides was wrongly involved in questionable dealings. The Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-sponsored enterprises heard testimony from Powers to determine liability in the Enron bankruptcy. Congress also hoped to determine what measures can be taken to prevent other U.S. companies from employing the measures Enron used before filing for bankruptcy. "The intent of the report is to shed light on certain related-party transactions, and I believe the report does that," said Powers in a statement. "It will be, I hope, a starting point for [the] investigating committees," said Powers in regards to his report commissioned by Enron. "What we found was absolutely appalling." Powers went on to describe Enron's effort to keep debt off their financial statements, which Powers said was "a systematic and pervasive attempt by Enron management to misrepresent their financial status." Enron established partnerships with several companies to redistribute Enron's deficit, using the cover of "hedging" to make it seem as if the partner companies owed money to Enron, which could then be shown as income for the energy giant. —The Daily Texan |
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