Election Section
Senator says Enron had secret Web site for energy trades Senator says Enron had secret Web site for energy trades Senator says Enron had secret Web site for energy trades
SACRAMENTO – A state senator investigating the state’s energy crisis said Friday that Enron Corp. used secret Internet sites to communicate about California energy trades.
Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, said investigators uncovered the Web sites in electronic data Enron gave to the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market.
The committee will hear testimony from its information technology consultant on Wednesday, Dunn said, about the sites and about alleged destruction of other electronic data that investigators have discovered.
“We believe the data shows that Enron deliberately destroyed e-data,” Dunn said Friday.
The committee subpoenaed the e-mails of some top Enron officials, which Dunn said were destroyed.
Other data on the electronic submissions from Enron show the existence of “secret third-party Web sites” that traders may have used to shield transactions “outside the scope of any subpoena,” Dunn said.
At the hearing next week, Dunn said he will also show evidence that “links certain municipal utility systems that were Enron’s partners in those transactions.”
Some of the municipal utilities have “profit-sharing agreements” with Enron, he said.
Enron officials didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
