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Waxman wants explanation from Enron chief

(CNN) - The ranking Democrat on the House Government Committee wants the head of energy giant Enron to explain his actions leading up to the company's collapse.

Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, the largest such case in U.S. history.

Rep. Henry Waxman, California, is investigating Enron and has asked chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Lay to explain two e-mails messages sent last year to employees that predicted the company's stock would rise, even as the company slid towards bankruptcy.

In a letter to Lay, Waxman asked if he sent the e-mails and if he was aware of the company's financial troubles at the time.

Waxman also asked why the company blocked its employees from selling Enron shares in their 401(k) retirement plans as the stock plummeted.

The U.S. Justice Department named veteran federal prosecutor Joshua Hochberg to lead its probe of Enron. The Labor Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and several congressional committees are also investigating the suden collapse of the Houston, Texas-based energy giant.

Enron markets electricity and natural gas, delivers energy and other physical commodities, and provides financial and risk management services to customers around the world.

Lawyers for Enron Corp. confirmed Friday that UBS AG has won the bidding war for the energy firm's wholesale operations. The value of the UBS offer was unknown. Salomon Smith Barney, a unit of the Citigroup banking organization, also was in contention for the unit, and BP PLC had expressed interest in buying some of the assets.

Greenspan, Rubin and Ashcroft

Enron Corp.'s president called a top Treasury Department official several times late last year as the company was negotiating with bankers for a credit extension it needed to avoid bankruptcy, administration officials said Friday.

Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Peter Fisher interpreted the calls as a request for the administration to intervene and help, but he declined to do so, administration sources said.

A Treasury spokeswoman said that in one phone call Enron President Lawrence Whalley urged Fisher to "call Enron's banks."

CNN learned that former Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin also called Fisher late last year to ask if Fisher could place a call urging bond rating agencies to see whether there was a way to avoid an immediate downgrading of Enron's ratings

Rubin is now a senior official at Citigroup, which had a financial exposure to Enron.

According to two Bush administration officials, Fisher said he did not think intervening was appropriate and Rubin said he believed "that was a reasonable position" and did not press the issue, the officials said.

One of the officials said the call "is further evidence that Enron officials and others lobbied for administration action, intervention, but that nothing was done because officials did not believe it was the right thing to do."

In addition, Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay called Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on October 26, said a Fed spokesman, who added Greenspan did not do anything in response to the call because "it would not have been appropriate."

Justice Department officials told CNN that Attorney General John Ashcroft -- who has recused himself from the Justice Department's criminal investigation -- met last year with Lay on February 22 at the annual meeting of the Business Council in Washington.

"The attorney general recalls one event where he spoke to a group of CEOs and was invited on behalf of the group by Ken Lay, who was serving as the group's vice chairman," a justice official said.

Congressional investigations

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers pledged to get to the bottom of what happened at Enron. Eight committees or subcommittees were preparing for separate hearings into Enron in coming weeks.

A Senate investigative subcommittee issued 51 subpoenas Friday to executives and the board of directors of Enron and Arthur Andersen, Enron's accounting firm.

"What is evident already is that the company appears to have deliberately misled investors and its employees and customers about its financial strength. That in and of itself is very troubling," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a ranking member of the subcommittee.

Collins said, "So far, I have seen no evidence of improper influence with members of the administration, but I am sure that question will be fully explored in these hearings."

The Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee also said it wants top Arthur Andersen executives to turn over everything in their personal records relating to their accounting work for Enron.

The request came after the firm disclosed many documents related to Enron audits had been destroyed.

"We're going to do anything we can do to try to piece this puzzle together," said Ken Johnson, a spokesman for committee chairman Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Louisiana.

'That dog won't hunt'

Top White House officials, meanwhile, urged what one called "context and perspective" in media coverage of the developments.

"There are some legitimate questions and some questions we view more as political," the senior official said.

"But remember this: There is not one allegation of wrongdoing by anyone in the federal government and it is this administration that decided to aggressively investigate the company and the related issues," he said.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said no single person or office at the White House has been designated to serve as a repository of information about administration contacts with Enron.

And, he said, if Democrats in Congress try to make a political issue of the Enron bankruptcy, "That dog won't hunt."

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, issued a news release Friday urging the Bush administration to "take every step possible to remove the appearance of a conflict in all aspects of this case," including the appointment of a special counsel "if evidence of impropriety by any high-ranking official arises."

He also urged "insulating" the investigators and prosecutors involved in the case, and "immediate and complete disclosure ... of all communications between high-ranking administration officials and Enron executives."

Senior officials told CNN this week's disclosures were part of a White House-directed effort to check for all such contacts.

"It is just common sense," one top White House aide said. "We are going to get asked, so people are being asked to check and double check."