Jeffrey Skilling, Enron’s former chief executive, on Monday made an impassioned vow to fight the criminal fraud charges levelled against him ”until the day I die”.
Skilling (52) took the witness stand for the first time at a court in Houston, Texas, to defend himself in one of the most infamous cases of corporate chicanery ever to come to light. It has taken United States prosecutors more than four years to reach this stage.
According to reporters in the courtroom, Skilling looked visibly anxious, but defiant as he spoke directly to the jury. ”I’m absolutely innocent,” he said. ”It’s not in my nature not to fight something like this. The charges against me are wrong. I will fight those charges until the day I die.”
In a sideswipe at some of his former colleagues, he said he had ”never … not once considered making a deal with prosecutors the way more than a dozen other Enron executives did”.
The case against him and his co-defendant, Kenneth Lay, was made significantly more onerous when the former top accountant at Enron, Richard Causey, who had been due to stand alongside the pair, agreed a late-stage plea deal.
Enron filed for bankruptcy in late 2001 after a campaign to conceal debts and produce fake earnings through false accounting finally fell apart.
Skilling faces 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading. Lay (63) who also served as chief executive, faces six counts of conspiracy and fraud. He is expected to take the stand later in the trial.
The government contends that Skilling spearheaded the scheme. He had worked at Enron since 1990 and took over as chief executive in February 2001 only to resign abruptly that same August.
Skilling attempted to explain his sudden departure, interpreted by prosecutors as a sign of guilt. He said he was emotionally exhausted and had become ”obsessed with Enron” to the detriment of his family. ”Every day was intense and I had not spent the time I should have with my family.”
He claimed to have been unsettled by the company’s mounting critics and Enron’s falling share price. He recalled an extraordinary outburst during a conference call, in which he called an analyst an ”asshole”.
”The short-sellers were all over the stock and I was having a hard time explaining why Enron was a strong company,” he told the court.
”I had lost credibility with the Street, meaning Wall Street. The now infamous asshole quote, sorry, was used as an example of, I don’t know, arrogance or something. It wasn’t meant that way. I was looking at the business in dark-coloured glasses in some ways. I felt my leaving would re-establish credibility for the company … The reason I left was because I was ready to go … my head wasn’t in it anymore.”
Andrew Fastow, the former Enron finance chief, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Skilling and Lay have blamed Fastow for the misdeeds that tilted Enron into bankruptcy and argued that he turned on them only to secure a lighter sentence for himself. ”It’s daunting, but it’s critical to get the story out,” Skilling said. Answering questions from his lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, he admitted to feeling anxious. ”In some ways my life is on the line, so I’m a little nervous,” he said.
The cross-examination is not expected until mid-week or even later. – Guardian Unlimited Â