Responding to an inquiry made by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) two days after Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 2, Vice President Dick Cheney’s counsel admitted in a letter released this week that Enron executives met in person six times with White House officials or the National Energy Policy Development Group Task Force last year to discuss “energy policy matters.” The first meeting was Feb. 22, 2001, about one month after President Bush took office; the last meeting was Oct. 10, 2001, one week before Enron released its third quarter earnings.

However, Cheney’s lawyer David S. Addington, in a letter to Waxman dated Jan. 3, said, “Enron did not communicate information about its financial position in any of the meetings with the vice president or the National Energy Policy Group’s support staff.” Addington then detailed the six meetings, which he said included the “energy crisis in California, and did not discuss information concerning the financial position of the Enron Corp.” Waxman, an outspoken critic of Enron, is ranking minority member of the Committee on Government Reform.

Also Tuesday, BP confirmed that it has bid $25 million for some of the bankrupt company’s back office and software systems, joining formal bids by at least two others, Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG. Enron’s energy trading unit is up for auction on Thursday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American International Group Inc. also were considering bids. However, JP Morgan Chase & Co., one of Enron’s largest creditors, failed to submit a bid by the Monday deadline.

Enron’s New York City attorneys are expected to announce the winning bids on Thursday and make a recommendation to the bankruptcy court for a decision as early as Friday on what bids will be accepted.

While the initial bids remain confidential, London-based BP confirmed its bid for a portion of the back office and software technology systems of the company, including license rights and business processes. BP also could up its bid in an attempt to gain other assets during the auction, the company confirmed. Exactly what Citigroup and UBS have bid upon could not be confirmed. Citigroup is another of Enron’s largest creditors.

When Enron unveiled its reorganization plan in December, it suggested a joint venture for its trading operations (see Daily GPI, Dec. 31, 2001). Under Enron’s proposal, a company with a strong balance sheet would receive at least 51% of the unit in a joint venture. It is unclear whether any of the bids reflected that proposal.

Enron said in court papers in December that offers have been made for its turbines, power plant projects, emission credits issued by California air districts, and oil and gas exploration and development interests. Even though the sale of the non-debtor assets is not subject to court approval, Enron indicated that potential buyers have conditioned the transactions’ closing on having either a court order or the approval of the bankruptcy creditors committee.

Enron also announced it will not release its fourth quarter 2001 earnings until March.

In detailing the vice president’s staff’s meetings with Enron, Addington said three of the six meetings were with the task force’s support staff, which was gathering information from a variety of industries and stakeholders as it put together a proposal for Bush. (The task force ended its work Sept. 30, 2001.) “Two additional meetings occurred after the publication of the National Energy Policy,” said Addington, one after the task force completed its work, including a meeting with officials of an Enron German subsidiary.

The final meeting, wrote Addington, was with “an employee on the vice president’s staff, who previously was the executive director of the group’s support staff,” who “met on Oct. 10, 2001 with Enron representatives, and reports that they discussed energy policy matters and did not discuss…the financial position” of the company. The employee was not named.

Waxman, while noting that he commended the vice president for revealing some details of the meetings, wants even more detail of the Enron meetings. He wrote, “The response…addressed only meetings between Enron executives and energy task force officials. It does not address whether White House officials had other ‘contacts’ with Enron, such as telephone conversations or e-mail communications…I urge you to provide a full accounting of the contacts.”

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