Shredded Enron Papers Taken to Court
Jan. 22 -- An attorney handed over shredded Enron documents to a federal court in Houston today, claiming they were important papers company workers had attempted to destroy as recently as last week.
The attorney, William Lerach, has filed a class-action suit against the failed energy firm on behalf of employees and stockholders.
The presentation of documents to the court comes the day after a former Enron executive, Maureen Castaneda, told ABCNEWS that 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.
Castaneda, the former director of Enron's foreign investments section who was recently laid off by the company, 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.
In response to Castaneda's allegations, Enron spokesman Mark Palmer confirmed that today the FBI had been invited into Enron's headquarters in Houston to inspect the offices. He added that after "learning of the allegations last night, Enron immediately preserved the integrity of the site."
Today's court hearing was based on a previously-filed request to stop any potential document destruction at Enron's now-fired auditor, Arthur Andersen. The accounting firm startled observers by announcing on Jan. 10 that it had destroyed thousands of documents pertaining to Enron last fall.
Enron's own accounting practices have come under heightened scrutiny since the company's stunning October announcement that it lost $638 million in the third quarter of 2001 and was worth $1.2 billion less than it had previously claimed.
U.S. District Court Judge Melinda Harmon requested both parties involved in the hearing — the plaintiffs and Andersen — try to work out a solution to prevent the disposal of more papers. Harmon will hold a meeting with lawyers from both sides on Wednesday.
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