Fired Enron auditor is 'rogue employee or scapegoat'

WASHINGTON -- Fired Enron outside auditor David Duncan refused to testify to Congress Thursday about the shredding of the energy company's documents, invoking his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Several lawmakers said they're not sure whether he is a "rogue employee or scapegoat."

His silence came as his former colleagues, top officials of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, sought to lay the blame squarely on him. Their denials of involvement in the shredding drew skeptical responses from members of a House panel investigating Enron's collapse.

After five hours of testimony and quizzing by lawmakers of the Andersen executives, Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa, the panels' chairman, told reporters that the committee's investigation is far from over and that the Andersen witnesses produced no evidence that Duncan acted independently when he ordered his Houston-based auditing team, as many as 80 people, to destroy Enron related papers and e-mail.

"The burning question is why were these documents destroyed" and did Duncan's superiors know about it? said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, adding that Thursday's session did not answer these questions.

While the Andersen executives sought to narrow the paper shredding to Duncan's Houston operation, Tauzin said documents may also have been destroyed by others at Andersen. "We're pursuing that," he said without elaboration.

'Robbed the bank'

Duncan, who had been Andersen's lead auditor on the Enron account, was the first witness before the Energy and Commerce's investigations and oversight subcommittee.

"Enron robbed the bank, Arthur Andersen provided the getaway car and they say you were at the wheel," Greenwood told Duncan.

But when Greenwood began to question Duncan, asking him if he had deliberately given an order to destroy documents to "subvert governmental investigations," Duncan cited his constitutional right to silence.

Duncan invoked it twice, telling the panel, "Respectfully, that will be my response to all your questions." He was not questioned further and was excused.

Dorsey Baskin Jr., managing director of Andersen's professional standards group, told the panel that Duncan directed the destruction of a substantial number of documents just as an investigation was beginning.

"We are not proud" of the destruction of the records, Baskin said.

Rep. Chris John, D-La., cited an "18-day problem" spanning parts of October and November when documents were being shredded before the accounting firm suggested they be preserved.

"It is perplexing to me that no one in the highest management of Arthur Andersen had any indication...of what was going on," John said.

Last week, Andersen fired Duncan over his alleged role in the document destruction.