Ex-Enron CEO Skilling Denies Wrongdoing

Feb. 7 -- One-time Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling today repeatedly denied having a central role in the firm's financial operations, even as he was accused of having a key role in them by a fellow executive at a congressional hearing.

"I was not aware of any financial arrangements designed to conceal liabilities or inflate profitability," Skilling told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative subcommittee. When he stepped down as CEO last August, said Skilling, he "did not believe the company was in an imminent financial peril."

"I am devastated by and apologetic about what Enron has come to represent," added the executive, who became CEO in February 2001 after having been the company's president.

The implication of Skilling's testimony was to direct responsibility for management of Enron's ruinous private partnerships squarely onto the shoulders of the firm's former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow.

But that wasn't the picture painted in testimony earlier in the hearing by Jeffrey McMahon, Enron's one-time treasurer who became the chief financial officer when the company began its spiral into bankruptcy last fall.

According to McMahon, Skilling was well aware of the controversial investment partnerships though which Enron hid debt and losses from shareholders — although he acknowledged that Kenneth Lay, who served as CEO before and after Skilling, may not have been.

"Certainly Mr. Skilling knew the structure of the organization," said McMahon. "I don't know if Mr. Lay knew."

Repeated Denials From Skilling

But Skilling repeatedly said he could not recall details of meetings cited in the committee's research, did not know details about the partnerships Fastow ran and did not even know about some of the partnerships his colleagues used to enrich themselves.

Much of the time was spent disputing Skilling's recollection of a meeting between him and McMahon in 2000. McMahon said he complained to Skilling about the conflict of interest inherent in having Fastow run the partnerships while serving as chief financial officer.