Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has obtained videotapes that he said show former CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling was aware of accounting problems at Enron Corp. at least ten months before he resigned from the company in August 2001 — a claim he denied when he testified before a House subcommittee earlier this month.

In a videotape of an Oct. 3, 2000 Enron employee meeting, Skilling disputed a Wall Street Journal article that reported the company would have had to report a loss in the second quarter of 2000 if had not been for the $747 million in unrealized gains from “risk management activities,” Waxman said in a letter to the one-time Enron executive.

When questioned by an employee about the WSJ article during the meeting, “you dismissed the significance” of it, saying the report was “totally, totally without merit,” the lawmaker said in his letter to Skilling. “You said that Enron had properly used mark-to-market accounting to book its profits. The Journal’s criticism, you noted, was based on its belief that Enron did not disclose enough information about its finances. You refuted this criticism” in the videotape.

“The Oct. 3, 2000 videotape raises important questions about…[Skilling’s] knowledge of Enron’s financial problems” before leaving Enron, as well as his role in the company’s questionable off-the-book partnerships that concealed debt and inflated earnings, Waxman said.

In testimony before a House subcommittee on Feb. 7, Skilling said he believed Enron was on sound financial footing when he resigned, and he disavowed any knowledge of problems with the controversial partnerships. Waxman has asked Skilling to respond to issues raised in his letter by March 18.

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