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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (205591)	11/29/2001 1:48:52 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

To represent its interests, Enron has employed former Secretary of State James Baker and former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher from the Bush administration as well as former Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen. A 1993 New Yorker article reported that Baker and Bush's son Neil lobbied Kuwaiti officials that year to select Enron to rebuild a power plant destroyed in the Iraqi invasion. Lay acknowledged that Baker was on an Enron retainer when he visited Kuwait in 1993 for ceremonies honoring the former president. "I'm not sure [ Baker ] even mentioned our project while he was there," said Lay, who said the New Yorker article "was loaded with total inaccuracies and falsehoods." The Nation magazine reported in 1994 that Bush's son George W. Bush phoned Argentina's public works minister in 1988 to ask him to award Enron a contract to build a natural gas pipeline. "I felt pressured," the minister was quoted as saying. "It was not proper for him to make that kind of call." Enron later won the contract, the magazine reported. Enron spokesman Mark Palmer said no member of the Bush family has ever had a financial or consulting relationship with the company. Palmer said George W. Bush, now governor of Texas, told Enron officials he never called the public works minister. Enron's board of directors includes Wendy Gramm, wife of Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Texas). Wendy Gramm was appointed to the board in 1993, five weeks after resigning as chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where she had supported Enron proposals to relax regulations on trading of energy futures. Enron and Gramm both said in published reports that there was no connection between her appointment and her actions as a regulator. Tony Lentini, head of Apache Corp., a Houston oil and natural gas exploration company, said because Enron controls distribution of large supplies of energy, its futures traders have undue influence over prices. "It's insider trading, but it's legal to have this superior knowledge and trade on it in the futures market," Lentini said. "Do the same stuff in the stock market, you go to jail." Lay acknowledged that Enron, which invented several of the financial instruments now being used in the futures market, is a "very significant participant. "I'm not sure that's the same as, quote, 'insider trading.' " Lay said. "We have a number of very strong competitors, including the major oil companies and the investment banking houses and electricity companies." Last week, Enron's oil and gas subsidiary added to its board of directors Frank G. Wisner, who had reportedly helped Enron win a $2.8 billion contract for a power generating station as U.S. ambassador to India. The New York Times reported in 1995 that Wisner "constantly cajoled" Indian officials and that the company also was aided by the Central Intelligence Agency, which assessed the strategies of the competing contractors. Lay denied Enron received any assistance from the CIA: "To my knowledge, I don't think we've ever received any information from the CIA. When we go into these countries and bid on these projects, we rely solely on our own intelligence." In July, Amnesty International issued a report accusing Indian police of beating and arbitrarily arresting opponents of the Enron project. The group accused police of "collusion" with Enron. Enron officials acknowledge reimbursing the government for extra police at the site -- as it says it is required to do -- but denied any role in the alleged mistreatment. They said police were always under police control and not under the direction of Enron. The project, the biggest international investment since India moved to open its economy in 1991, has become the object of protests by thousands of local residents who say the power-plant will take their homes and destroy their fishing grounds and coconut groves. The opposition party won a state election in 1995 after a campaign in which it accused Enron of using bribery to win the contract. Although the accusers later retracted their bribery allegations, Enron was forced to renegotiate the deal at more favorable terms. In Indonesia, Enron won a power plant contract through a partnership that includes the son of the country's president. "There are very few large companies in Indonesia that do not have involvement with one or more members of the president's family," Lay said. He insisted, however, that Enron abides by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies from paying bribes abroad.