How badly does this affect us?

-----Original Message-----
From: djcustomclips@djinteractive.com
[mailto:djcustomclips@djinteractive.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 8:38 PM
To: 168842@mailman.enron.com
Subject: Rahil Jafry: Judge rejects Enron request to halt legislative
subpoena


Judge rejects Enron request to halt legislative subpoena
By JENNIFER COLEMAN

08/29/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001.  The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.

   SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Sacramento Superior Court judge rejected energy
company Enron's request to quash a subpoena issued by a state Senate
committee investigating possible price manipulation in California's
energy market.

   Judge Charles Kobayashi denied two of Enron's three motions Wednesday
in tentative rulings, saying the court had no right to interfere with a
legislative subpoena.
   Enron sued the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Market
Manipulation in July to stop the subpoena of its financial and
electricity trading records. Among its objections were that only the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the authority to investigate
wholesale markets.

   The committee has sought documents from six energy companies as they
investigate last year's price spikes in the wholesale electricity
market.

   In his tentative ruling on Enron's motion asking for a protective
order, Kobayashi said he was "sympathetic to Enron's concern for
safeguarding its trade secret information."

   But he added that the court couldn't assume the committee would
divulge the confidential documents and Enron's constitutional rights
weren't "jeopardized by delivery of their secrets to the document
depository."

   On the other motion, to quash the subpoena, the judge found the
committee did follow proper procedure when serving Enron officials.

   Attorneys for the committee and Enron will return to court Thursday
on the tentative rulings. Kobayashi set a court date for Sept. 7 on the
third motion, which is a request for an injunction of the committee's
investigation and contempt proceedings.

   Enron officials didn't immediately return calls from The Associated
Press seeking comment.

   Enron officials have said the company is prepared to turn over 25,000
documents that were already in California, but that other documents the
committee wants are in Texas and out of the panel's reach.

   The committee found Enron in contempt for not turning over the
documents. A full report on the contempt finding has been sent to the
full Senate, which has not voted on it. A contempt report on Reliant
Energy has also been sent to the Senate.

   A contempt finding against Mirant Corp. was later reversed when the
company opened a document depository in Sacramento for the committee's
investigators.

   If the full Senate imposes sanctions against Reliant or Enron, it
will be the first time since 1929, when the Senate voted to jail
reluctant witnesses during a committee investigation of price fixing and
price gouging allegations involving cement sales to the state.



Folder Name: Rahil Jafry
Relevance Score on Scale of 100: 83

______________________________________________________________________

To review or revise your folder, visit http://www.djinteractive.com or contact Dow Jones Customer Service by e-mail at custom.news@bis.dowjones.com or by phone at 800-369-7466. (Outside the U.S. and Canada, call 609-452-1511 or contact your local sales representative.)
______________________________________________________________________

Copyright (c) 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved