To: Raymond Duray who wrote (232252 ) 2/28/2002 2:01:07 PM From: Zoltan! Read Replies (1) | Respond to Clinton still delivered policy for Lay:...In the 1990s, Enron was rapidly expanding, especially overseas. The managers of Enron wanted to set up partnerships and to shift debt off its books into foreign operations. (When these partnerships and the hidden debts came to light late last year, Enron's share price collapsed and the company sought bankruptcy protection.) Their efforts to set up the partnerships, however, ran up against certain parts of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Congress refused to do so. Enron essentially lost a political struggle in Congress with the Investment Company Institute, the main trade association of the mutual-fund industry.Without the exemption, one of Enron's lawyers told the New York Times, there would have been no partnerships and no debt off the books in the foreign operations. In 1997, the agency granted the exemption for Enron's foreign operations. He only needed five paragraphs to override the will of Congress. From a constitutional perspective, an SEC division head, whom no one elected, overruled Congress, who must stand for election by the people.... nationalreview.com
