Enron witnesses dispute prosecution testimony

HOUSTON -- Defense witnesses in the fraud and conspiracy trial of former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling disputed earlier testimony that partnerships run by the company's former finance chief got special treatment for buying problem assets.

Other witnesses also countered prosecution testimony that layoffs were disguised as reassigned jobs and that a troubled power project in India helped spell financial disaster.

Lead Skilling lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said yesterday his client likely will begin testifying tomorrow.

Yesterday, Mark Metts, a former top executive in mergers and acquisitions for Enron, sought to counter testimony from former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow that Skilling knew Fastow used lucrative partnerships to help the energy company hide losses and manufacture earnings.

Earlier yesterday, former Enron human resources supervisor Sarah Davis testified that people who moved from its struggling broadband venture in March 2001 were given opportunities to shift assignments, disputing earlier testimony that most were laid off or targeted to be laid off.

Another witness, Wade Cline, Enron's current general counsel, told jurors about his efforts to help the company recoup its $1.2 billion investment in a 2,184-megawatt Dabhol power project in Western India in 2001. His testimony was intended to counter that of Fastow and former treasurer Ben Glisan Jr., who both said they warned Lay in August and October 2001 that the Dabhol project could contribute to multibillion-dollar write-offs.