Anonymous
9th June 2002, 23:48
"The U.S. public is only just beginning to comprehend the devastating domestic impact of Enron's financial machinations and dirty deals. However, the part of the story that has been eclipsed until now, is that Enron's international empire, which was fraught with charges of human rights and environmental abuses, was built on a foundation of about $7 billion in taxpayer money. This $7 billion came from institutions whose mandates range from poverty alleviation to promoting the US Merchant Marines or German exports, yet Enron convinced each that it was in their interest to promote the capitalization of Enron.
Since Enron's inception in 1992, at least 20 agencies, representing the U.S. Government (leading the way with over $3 billion), the British, Italian, French, German, and Japanese governments, as well as the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Union and the World Bank, approved $7 billion in financing toward overseas projects in which Enron had substantial involvement (see this handy timeline). Enron leveraged this public finance into a worldwide web of power and energy projects with an array of political interventions from local politicians to the Vice President of the United States. Enron's overseas operations rewarded shareholders temporarily but often punished the people and governments of foreign countries it targeted with price hikes and blackouts worse than those suffered by Californians in 2001.
In desperately poor countries where Enron operated, these hardships sparked protests or riots. Local government leaders were, in many cases, implicated in the scandals or in the violent suppression of dissent.
For example:
· In the Dominican Republic, nine people were killed when police were brought in to quell riots after blackouts lasting up to 20 hours followed an Enron-initiated power price hike. Among the complaints of protesters was the allegation that Enron had purchased the local power plant at a vastly undervalued price. The auditor: a local subsidiary of Arthur Andersen.
· In India, police hired by Enron beat non-violent protesters who challenged the $30 billion power purchasing agreement -- the largest deal in Indian history -- struck between local politicians and Enron.
· The president of Guatemala tried to dissolve the Congress and declare martial law after rioting followed an Enron-maneuvered price hike.
· In Panama, the man who negotiated the asking price for Enron's stake in power production was the brother-in-law of the head of the country's state-owned power company. Rioting followed suspicions of corruption and Enron's price hikes and power outages there, too.
· In Colombia, two politicians resigned amid accusations that one was trying to push a cut-rate deal for Enron on the state-owned power company.
While all this was occurring, the US Government and other public agencies continued to advocate for Enron, threatening poor countries like Mozambique with an end to aid if they did not accept Enron's bid on a natural gas field. Enron was so intertwined with the US Government in many people's minds that they assumed, as the late Croatian strongman Franjo Tjudman did, that pleasing Enron meant pleasing the White House. For Tjudman, he hoped that compliance with an overpriced Enron contract might parlay into an array of political favors, from softer treatment at The Hague's War Crimes Tribunal to the entry of his country into the World Trade Organization.
Only when Enron's scandals began to affect Americans did these same government officials and institutions hold the corporation at arm's length. And only when Enron leadership revealed their greed on home turf did it became the biggest corporate scandal in recent US history."
Human Rights Watch, January 24, 2002
"Think screwing people out of their savings is bad? Try paying off cops to beat up opponents and stealing water from poor farmers. That’s how fallen giant Enron did business in India"- Human Right Watch report released yesterday!
Since Enron's inception in 1992, at least 20 agencies, representing the U.S. Government (leading the way with over $3 billion), the British, Italian, French, German, and Japanese governments, as well as the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Union and the World Bank, approved $7 billion in financing toward overseas projects in which Enron had substantial involvement (see this handy timeline). Enron leveraged this public finance into a worldwide web of power and energy projects with an array of political interventions from local politicians to the Vice President of the United States. Enron's overseas operations rewarded shareholders temporarily but often punished the people and governments of foreign countries it targeted with price hikes and blackouts worse than those suffered by Californians in 2001.
In desperately poor countries where Enron operated, these hardships sparked protests or riots. Local government leaders were, in many cases, implicated in the scandals or in the violent suppression of dissent.
For example:
· In the Dominican Republic, nine people were killed when police were brought in to quell riots after blackouts lasting up to 20 hours followed an Enron-initiated power price hike. Among the complaints of protesters was the allegation that Enron had purchased the local power plant at a vastly undervalued price. The auditor: a local subsidiary of Arthur Andersen.
· In India, police hired by Enron beat non-violent protesters who challenged the $30 billion power purchasing agreement -- the largest deal in Indian history -- struck between local politicians and Enron.
· The president of Guatemala tried to dissolve the Congress and declare martial law after rioting followed an Enron-maneuvered price hike.
· In Panama, the man who negotiated the asking price for Enron's stake in power production was the brother-in-law of the head of the country's state-owned power company. Rioting followed suspicions of corruption and Enron's price hikes and power outages there, too.
· In Colombia, two politicians resigned amid accusations that one was trying to push a cut-rate deal for Enron on the state-owned power company.
While all this was occurring, the US Government and other public agencies continued to advocate for Enron, threatening poor countries like Mozambique with an end to aid if they did not accept Enron's bid on a natural gas field. Enron was so intertwined with the US Government in many people's minds that they assumed, as the late Croatian strongman Franjo Tjudman did, that pleasing Enron meant pleasing the White House. For Tjudman, he hoped that compliance with an overpriced Enron contract might parlay into an array of political favors, from softer treatment at The Hague's War Crimes Tribunal to the entry of his country into the World Trade Organization.
Only when Enron's scandals began to affect Americans did these same government officials and institutions hold the corporation at arm's length. And only when Enron leadership revealed their greed on home turf did it became the biggest corporate scandal in recent US history."
Human Rights Watch, January 24, 2002
"Think screwing people out of their savings is bad? Try paying off cops to beat up opponents and stealing water from poor farmers. That’s how fallen giant Enron did business in India"- Human Right Watch report released yesterday!