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Non-Tech : The ENRON Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (34)	1/10/2002 7:23:00 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5185

Ashcroft Recused Himself From Enron Case ``The amount of Lay's contribution was many times greater than the maximum allowable contribution by individuals to federal candidates, which is just $2,000, and it appears to have been given in a manner that many campaign finance experts believe thwarted the intent of election laws,'' Waxman said. Thursday January 10 4:01 PM ET By James Vicini WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department , which is investigating Enron Corp., said Thursday that Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) has removed himself from the case after receiving campaign contributions from the fallen energy giant. Enron and its employees contributed $57,499 to campaign committees for Ashcroft, previously a Republican senator from Missouri, in 1999-2000, according to Holly Bailey, researcher for the Center for Responsive Politics. This included a $25,000 donation from Enron chief Kenneth Lay, she said. Most of the rest of the money came from the corporation, although there were small amounts from other employees. Ashcroft took the action the same day U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (news), a Democrat from California, sent him a letter saying Enron had been one of Ashcroft's largest contributors. ``The amount of Lay's contribution was many times greater than the maximum allowable contribution by individuals to federal candidates, which is just $2,000, and it appears to have been given in a manner that many campaign finance experts believe thwarted the intent of election laws,'' Waxman said. The Justice Department said in a three-sentence statement, ''The attorney general has not been involved in any aspect of initiating or conducting any investigation involving Enron.'' The Justice Department, which confirmed the Enron investigation late Wednesday, said ``any and all responsibilities'' that would be handled by Ashcroft in the case would be handled instead by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson. Once the world's largest energy trader, Enron slid in mere weeks last year from Wall Street stardom to the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history on Dec. 2. Enron was a major contributor to the election campaign of President Bush (news - web sites), as well as many other lawmakers, including Ashcroft. The once politically powerful company also advised the Bush administration on energy policy. The Houston, Texas-based company, once ranked No. 7 on the Fortune 500 list of large corporations, is also being investigated by five congressional committees, the market-regulating Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) and the Labor Department (news - web sites). ASHCROFT ACTED FOR 'SAKE OF APPEARANCE' A Justice Department official said Ashcroft removed himself from the case ``for the sake of appearance.'' The official said government career ethics officers had ``looked at'' Ashcroft's situation. Also removing himself from the case was Ashcroft's chief of staff, David Ayers. He previously worked with Ashcroft in Congress. ``After review of the relevant facts and law, the attorney general and his chief of staff, David Ayres, have recused themselves in all matters arising out of allegations of misconduct by Enron Corp. due to the totality of the circumstances of the relationship between Enron and the attorney general,'' the department said. The official said Ashcroft and Ayres were the only Justice Department officials to remove themselves so far, but that the U.S. attorney's office in Houston was expected to issue a statement later Thursday. The Justice Department is setting up a task force to handle the Enron investigation. It is expected to include federal prosecutors from Houston, New York and San Francisco, and members of the Justice Department's fraud section. Robert Bennett, a lawyer representing Enron, has said, ``To my knowledge there's no evidence of wrongdoing yet. You have a business failure and you have a lot of allegations. But allegations are not the same as evidence.'' Email this story -