Senate committee prepares to look into Enron collapse

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee will subpoena documents from Enron's board of directors, auditors and key managers as part of an investigation into the energy company's sudden collapse and lack of government protection for investors.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., announcing the investigation, promised Wednesday "a search for the truth, not a witch hunt." He did not rule out an examination of Enron's relationships with the Bush administration.

"We're going to go wherever the search takes us," said Lieberman at a news conference, noting Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay's involvement in crafting the administration's energy agenda last spring. "We've got to ask whether the advice rendered (by Lay) was at all self serving."

Lieberman's Governmental Affairs Committee plans to hold its first hearing on Jan. 24, a day after Congress returns from its holiday recess. Its initial focus will be on why federal regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, did not raise warning flags about the Enron Corp.

"The untimely and wholly unexpected failure of a corporate giant like Enron is an alarm call to all of us in government," said Lieberman. He said it has sent shockwaves into the investment community and concern about energy industry deregulation.

The panel's investigations subcommittee, headed by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., planned to pursue a separate track as it tries to determine how much Enron's board of directors and auditors knew of Enron's sometimes secretive business dealings, including the use of questionable partnerships and "offshore entities" that disguised the extent of the company's debts.