Vasily Bubnov: Enron's case is marching across the ocean

The scandal around the bankruptcy of the giant American company Enron has already reached Europe. As it turned out, Kenneth Lay had a lot of buddies in Great Britain too, among the Labourites at least.

The news about the funds assigned to the Labour Party was very good for the conservatives, for it seemed that the popularity of Tony Blair and his party popularity had nothing to fear. The Labour Party received money from Enron at the moment when the government of Great Britain was considering energy issues. The opposition said that the funds from Enron helped to make the decision of what was good for the company. Tony Blair’s office certainly denied any connection with those events. The Labourites claimed that the funds that they received from Enron were spent on charity. Maybe this is true, but mentioning the links between any politician and Enron is a black mark all the same.

The events with the bankruptcy of the company will be a subject for discussion in the West for a long time; Kenneth Lay’s activity is really impressive, as it spread far beyond the limits of the United States. It doesn't matter if the Labourites like it; they were receiving money from Enron. This is a fact. Therefore, Tony Blair has a lot of work to do to draw the accusations of the opposition aside.

In the meantime, the former attendants of Enron in the USA filed a class action lawsuit claiming compensation for their losses. President George Bush called upon everyone not to pay so much attention to the political aspects of the problem; he said Enron’s bankruptcy was within the framework of private business.

The events with Enron were a big shock for a lot of American people, and not only because of the fact that Enron was one of America's largest companies. Why was the management of the company concealing the poor position of the company for so long? This is more interesting. Did top US officials know about it? This is the question that many people are asking themselves now.

Reuters photo