Look at the blithe way in which all government accepts the incompetent and criminal behavior of both bureacrats and business.
Your thinking we're still in the Clinton era. The headline below could read;
BUSH JUSTICE DEPT. DEALS DEATH BLOW TO CLINTON ERA ACCOUNTING
Justice Pushes Andersen for Guilty Plea Over Enron
Mar 13 7:57pm ET
By Tim Dobbyn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Justice is pressing accounting firm Andersen to plead guilty to charges related to its role in the collapse of Enron Corp. under threat of an indictment that may already be waiting under court seal, sources familiar with the case said on Wednesday.
Despite Andersen's concern that any indictment or guilty plea could threaten its survival, sources painted a picture of prosecutors determined to obtain an admission of guilt or go to battle with Andersen in court.
Andersen, headquartered in Chicago, had been the auditor for Houston-based Enron until it was fired in January. Andersen has admitted shredding documents about Enron sought by investigators, opening itself up to obstruction of justice charges.
While Thursday has been mentioned as a deadline for concluding the discussions, sources on both sides of the talks said discussions could continue until Friday.
One source close to the process said a grand jury had already handed up an indictment for obstruction of justice against Andersen, but other sources declined to discuss the matter or would only say a sealed indictment was a tactic sometimes used by federal prosecutors in negotiations.
A spokesmen for the Justice Department declined to comment, while an Andersen spokesman did not return several phone calls seeking comment.
A Justice Department task force has been investigating the collapse of Enron, which filed the largest-ever U.S. bankruptcy on Dec. 2 amid questions over its accounting methods and the role of extensive off-the-books partnerships.
Andersen was anxious to avoid an indictment because it would scare away further clients and could be the first step toward being censured or disqualified as an auditor by the Securities and Exchange Commission, securities lawyers said.
The SEC has the power to censure, suspend or disbar auditors from practicing before it for "improper professional conduct." Andersen recently paid the SEC $7 million to settle charges that it filed false and misleading audit reports for trash hauler Waste Management Inc. .
Andersen has admitted making mistakes in its audits of Enron, although it says the former energy trading giant, once the seventh-largest U.S. company, withheld crucial information.
(With additional reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh, Jim Vicini) |
