Ex-Enron CEO Skilling to face more questions

WASHINGTON -- Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, whose testimony has been challenged by lawmakers, faces questioning before a skeptical Congress again Tuesday -- this time along with other Enron officials whose versions of events conflict with his.

Sherron Watkins, the vice president who warned former chairman Kenneth Lay in August of potentially serious accounting problems, is testifying at the same time as Skilling -- who has stated he knew few details of questionable transactions involving a partnership used to hide more than $1 billion in debt.

Lawmakers want to bring together Skilling, Watkins and Jeffrey McMahon, Enron's current president and chief operating officer to put the same questions to each of them and compare their answers at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Bruce Hiler, Skilling's lawyer, said Monday, "We specifically requested Mr. Skilling be on the same panel with Sherron Watkins. He is looking forward to what will be Mr. Skilling's first specific conversation with Ms. Watkins about these matters."

All three testified, separately and under oath, this month before a House investigative panel. Other top Enron executives, including Lay, have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against potential self-incrimination and refused to testify.

"We are determined to understand what happened at the Enron Corp.," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., whose Commerce subcommittee on consumer affairs is investigating the energy-trading company's collapse and bankruptcy, the biggest in U.S. history. "The witnesses we will hear from Tuesday, and the format in which they will appear, promise to be very helpful in that effort."