White House releases papers

The Enron scandal took centre stage in Washington again yesterday, with the White House giving a Senate investigating committee access to more than 1,745 pages of documents relating to contacts between President Bush and officials from the bankrupt energy group.

Mr Bush, whose successful electoral campaign was given huge financial backing by Houston-based Enron, has so far refused to hand over what are considered the most vital documents, however, arguing there must first be agreement on procedures to safeguard the security and confidentiality of the papers. The documents were subpoenaed by the Senate governmental affairs committee which had set a June 3 deadline for delivery of the information, which was only just met.

The office of Mr Bush and his deputy Dick Cheney said no instance had yet been found of Enron officials asking anyone in the White House for help before the company's bankruptcy last December.

Meanwhile, a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigator working at Enron's auditor Arthur Andersen was told in court he should have anticipated an inquiry and ensured Enron-related documents were not shredded. Andrew Weissmann, the assistant US attorney, said Andersen partner John Riley, formerly from the SEC, should have been alert to problems at the end of last year.

Investors have been selling El Paso shares after the apparent suicide of Charles Dana Rice, senior vice-president and treasurer of the natural gas group. They fear a connection between Mr Rice's death and the financial health of El Paso following the similar death in January of former Enron vice-chairman J Clifford Baxter. El Paso argues the share decline is "unwarranted".