Is Enron Still Shredding Documents?

Jan. 21 -- Document-shredding continued at Enron's headquarters up until at least last week, despite federal subpoenas and court orders since last October forbidding the destruction of documents, a former Enron executive told ABCNEWS in an exclusive interview.

Maureen Castaneda, the former director of Enron's foreign investments section, said the shredding was done in an accounting office on the 19th floor of the company's Houston headquarters.

"I left the second week of January and the shredding was going on until the day I left, and I have no idea if it continues," said Castaneda, who worked across the hall from the accounting office.

"After Thanksgiving, there was great interest in the accounting documents stored," she said. "They pulled out all the boxes and people had to go through every box."

William Lerach, an attorney for Enron's shareholders, told The Associated Press, "They even shredded on Christmas Day."

He said he would take some of the shredded documents to federal court Tuesday to demand an explanation and ask that all relevant Enron documents be put in the custody of the court.

Enron attorney Bob Bennett told ABCNEWS today that all employees had been forbidden to shred any documents as of Oct. 25.

"At a very early time, the legal team made all employees aware of the pending litigation and that all documents should be retained," Bennett told ABCNEWS. "If anyone has disobeyed that policy or if anyone is discovered to have shredded documents it will not be tolerated and severe action will be taken."

He also said the company was investigating the reports.

‘A Smoking Howitzer’

Castaneda said she discovered the shredded documents when she was cleaning out her office and looking for packing material. She showed ABCNEWS boxes full of shredded documents dated from November and December, which she found in the hallway.

"I got these when I was leaving work, to basically use for packing material," she said. "I only took one box."