Court told Enron boss is well-rehearsed

Jeffrey Skilling

Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron chief executive, was yesterday forced to deny he had hidden anything during his fraud trial testimony, after a woman who coached him on sounding persuasive was pointed out to the jury.

The court was shown the coaching firm's website, as prosecutors launched their effort to undermine Skilling's credibility and secure convictions on 28 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

During his first week on the stand, a humble Skilling had painted Enron's bankruptcy as a tragedy triggered by Wall St speculators.

However, prosecutors began their cross-examination yesterday by painting Skilling as a persuasive salesman whose word the jury should not trust.

The aggressive questioning is being led by Sean Berkowitz, the director of the Government's Enron task force, set up to investigate fraud at the energy company.

Enron's spectacular collapse in 2001 shocked the financial world. As the two Harvard graduates faced off, Berkowitz asked Skilling: "You were well-rehearsed for making your testimony, right? And you are trying to convince the jury of something?"

Skilling said: "I have nothing to hide. I'm trying to describe what happened."

Enron was a house of cards built on greed and financial trickery, prosecutors allege, and the fraud that brought it down went right to the top.

As the two sides battle for the jury's sympathy, testimony has focused on share sales that allegedly show how Skilling knew that Enron was doomed to collapse. Share sales that netted his ex-wife and fiancee more than US$14 million in the run-up to Enron's bankruptcy were "a coincidence", he said.

He also insisted that he sold US$15.5 million of Enron shares in September 2001, shortly after leaving the company, because of stock market turbulence after the September 11 attacks. He said he had asked his broker to sell 200,000 shares on September 6 in order to diversify his investments. He had quit the company the previous month.

Kenneth Lay, Enron's former chairman, is also due to take the stand in his defence. He is charged with six counts of fraud and conspiracy.

- INDEPENDENT