Bush Officials Laud Post-Enron Moves

WASHINGTON -- Bush administration officials gave themselves high marks Tuesday for combating corporate corruption a year after the White House formed a task force in response to the Enron collapse and other white-collar scandals, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

"I hope we've seen the worst of it," Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson said after meeting with President Bush for a progress report. "From here on out, the country and the nation, the business community is well informed of the risks" of corporate fraud, Donaldson said.

The White House said its anti-fraud efforts had boosted investor confidence, and Donaldson suggested the administration deserved partial credit for a stock market rally in recent months.

Bush's Corporate Fraud Task Force, with members from an array of federal departments, has taken part in almost all corporate fraud cases brought by federal prosecutors over the last year, according to the White House.

Prosecutors have won more than 250 corporate fraud convictions, charged 354 people with corporate crime and obtained fines, forfeiture and restitution worth more than $85 million, the administration said. Yet no charges have yet been brought against former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, a Bush friend and contributor, or former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 7/22/03