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Enron attorney bemoans Washington scandal mindset

A well-known attorney representing embattled Enron Corp complained on Monday that a Washington, DC scandal mentality was taking over the case, with some officials rushing to judgment when an investigation scarcely had begun.

Robert Bennett made his comments after Michigan Democratic Rep John Dingell spoke on television of "pretty strong evidence" of insider trading as well as false accounting at Enron, the former business behemoth that filed for bankruptcy on December 2.

"We're getting into this Washington scandal mentality, where people are not going to wait until all the evidence is in," said Bennett, who defended former President Clinton in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.

"It's very critical that the people who investigate, whether the Justice Department or Congress, be fair about this," Bennett told Reuters.

As Bennett was speaking, Congress fired another shot in Enron's direction, as House investigators said an Enron employee warned last August about accounting concerns at the firm.

PILING ON

"If we're not going to be given a fair shot, and everybody piles on, then it minimises the chances of this company coming out of bankruptcy and enhancing the value of the stakeholders and helping the employees that are left," he said.

Dingell told CBS television on Monday morning that "there's pretty strong evidence of insider trading" at Enron, adding that "false accounting appears to be a very major problem, and it appears that both Enron and the accounting firm (Andersen) were involved in this matter."

Dingell is the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is one of several Capitol Hill committees investigating Enron. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also looking at the company.

Other lawmakers in the investigatory fray include Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who has set up an "Enron tip line" on his Web site for former Enron employees to tell what they know, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who has said Andersen could face criminal indictment.

Bennett said he did not question the right of the Congress to investigate, but he would welcome more co-ordination of the probing, as well as a sense of rationality and fair play.

"I'm troubled that all these committees profess they haven't made up their mind, that it isn't a witch-hunt, and ask us for all sorts of documents, and want our co-operation, on the premise that it's going to be fair and objective, and they are going to investigate the facts," he said.

"Then we hear statements that they've almost made up their minds," he said, adding that it reminded him of a scene in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

"You know, where the queen says, 'Let's have the sentence first and we'll have the trial later,'" Bennett said.

As for insider trading, it was not illegal if the rules were not violated, he said. "Insiders are allowed to trade."

Some Enron shareholders have filed a lawsuit accusing a group of 29 Enron executives and directors of "unlawful insider trading" and misleading the investing public.

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