WASHINGTON — Consumer activist Ralph Nader called on Congress to pass a host of new laws in the wake of the collapse of Enron Corp., including stricter controls on independent accountants, better protection for pension funds and appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the giant energy company.
“It is time for Congress to be more than concerned. It is time for Congress to get serious,” he said Monday.
He urged lawmakers to take up his “corporate decency” proposal, which includes:
• Creating a government agen cy to appoint and regulate independent auditors to prevent conflicts of interest of the type created when Enron's auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, both oversaw the company's books and collected consulting fees from it.
• Repealing the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which made it much more difficult for investors to sue corporations and accountants.
• Requiring independent trustees for pension plans that invest in company stock and requiring the plans to carry adequate insurance.
Both political parties took money from Enron and Arthur Andersen, and both were responsible for loosening oversight on corpora tions, Mr. Nader said. Lawmakers who took contributions from Enron and Arthur Andersen should donate them to charity, he said.
At least 10 congressional committees are investigating Enron and Arthur Andersen over bookkeeping practices, employee retirement savings losses and document shredding in the wake of Enron's collapse.
Still, Mr. Nader said he worries the Enron debacle will amount to a short-lived political scandal that maintains the status quo. He pointed to the Watergate scandal, saying a Senate panel had recommended 32 reforms, but only two or three were adopted.
“We have to go beyond documenting the wrongdoing ... and then move to the structural reform,” he said. “Out of this scandal a lot of good can come.”
Copyright 1995-2002. The Cincinnati Enquirer
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