Enron workers' benefits reportedly raided
Feb. 4, 2002, 9:38PM
$15 million allegedly spent elsewhere
By KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
A former senior accountant at Enron told CBS
News that the company took at least $15 million
from legally protected worker-benefits accounts
and spent it elsewhere.
During an interview aired on CBS-TV's Evening
News Monday, Robin Hosea said that immediately
after joining Enron as a benefits specialist in 2000
she noticed the money was being spent in other
departments.
"The money that comes out of benefits accounts
that is not directly to pay for employee benefits is
illegal," Hosea said. "It was a large amount of
money and also a large number of items."
The Chronicle was unable to reach Hosea Monday
night.
She said her records showed unexplained
payments totaling almost $15 million by the end of
2000, part of which went to monthly payments to
outside consultants.
Last May, Hosea said she questioned her superiors
about the payments and was told "that it was a
payment to friends of executives and to leave it,"
she told CBS.
That summer, Hosea took disability for knee
surgery.
Days before Enron declared bankruptcy, Hosea
told CBS that she contacted federal officials at the
Department of Labor about her concerns.
Since then, Hosea said, an Enron supervisor has
told her to keep quiet. She also said she gets
regular phone threats.
Hosea was laid off from Enron in December.
"Those sound like serious allegations," said Enron
spokesman Mark Palmer.
Monday night, Palmer said there was no way of
checking the truth of her claims.
"If the Department of Labor is looking into this, we
should wait until their investigation is complete to
find out what the facts are," Palmer said.
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