"Don't get enamored of the truth. There's no money in it."
-- George Herbert Walker Bush
Source: almartinraw.com
average joe,
It's becoming perfectly clear that the Bush Crime Family is the largest, best organized crime organization on the planet. They even have their operatives in the DoJ suppressing investigations. You really have to savor the irony that a political operative like Michael Chertoff, head of the Criminal Division could spend millions of dollars and years hounding the Clintons for a failed real estate deal called Whitewater, but that he can't seem to raise a finger against some cronies of the Bushes like Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling at Enron. This is immoral that we have such an evil scoundrel as the Chief Prosecutor in this country. Truly the fox guarding the henhouse. Disgusting.
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dailyenron.com
Little Guy Takes the Fall While Ken Lays Low
Last week's arrest and guilty plea by mid-level Enron executive Michael Kopper was framed as a breakthrough for federal prosecutors. With Kopper cooperating they now hope to bring charges against Kopper's former boss, Andy Fastow.
After Fastow they hope to bag Enron's No. 2, Jeffery Skilling. But, that may be a reach. There are doubts already being expressed that Fastow would, or even can, provide incriminating evidence against Skilling. And, Enron's No. 1, Kenneth Lay, may be even further out of reach.
"The prosecution will clearly have problems moving much farther than Fastow just on the Kopper case," said Ross Miller, co-author of the book "What Went Wrong at Enron." "It is pretty clear they've got Fastow. The key question becomes, can Fastow get them to Skilling?"
The good news for Skilling and Lay is that Kopper's plea only shows that Fastow and others within the global finance group run by Fastow at Enron were out to defraud the company. Nothing in Kopper's plea points to Skilling,
The Department of Justice's Enron investigation is fraught with political booby traps. The Bush administration's roster lists over 50 officials who had financial ties of one kind or another with Enron before joining the administration. And, both Enron and its former CEO, Ken Lay, had close financial, political and personal ties to President Bush.
So, the case was assigned to one of the department's most political officials, Michael Chertoff. Chertoff made national headlines when served as counsel to then New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato's relentless probe of President Clinton's Whitewater land deal. Chertoff's abrasive manner and partisan vigor won him enemies on the left, and friends on the right. Chertoff "wanted to establish himself as a Republican," John Fahy, a friend, told USA Today.
Having proven his conservative credentials on the Clinton probe Chertoff was handed the politically sensitive Enron investigation.
In recent weeks pressure has mounted on Chertoff to show some kind of results from his investigation. The Kopper plea deal has taken some of that pressure off the department. And, the freezing of Fastow's assets last week, also reduced criticism that the DOJ was allowing Enron executives to continue living high and giving them time to hide and dissipate their ill-gotten gains.
But, the two top Enron officials continue to have unfettered access to their money and other assets as the case against top officials, primarily Lay and Skilling, has yet to be made by Chertoff. The stated reason for the failure to bring charges against the two top Enron officials is that the case is "complex."
"It is ironic that Chertoff, who was so sure he had a case against Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Whitewater affair is suddenly so cautious," said Mike Lux, President of American Family Voices. "The generous conclusion would be that, since he was proven wrong in Whitewater, maybe he learned not to jump to conclusions. But, I suspect like his view of Whitewater, his view of the Enron case is more politically driven than legally driven. |
