SEEN's Daphne Wysham on Enron

SEEN's Daphne Wysham on Enron
NPR's Marketplace, 9 April 2002

Enron did business in 29 countries other than the US People who live in those countries are seething over Enron's way of doing things. But Uncle Sam backed them anyway-with your money. That's right, your money.

Even Enron's former Chairman Ken Lay said Enron would never be able to do business overseas without public financing. It turns out Enron-related projects got more than $7 billion in taxpayer support. Four billion of it came from you and me. Enron got basic loans and insurance from public institutions like the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the World Bank and others. Taxpayers in other countries forked over the rest. It was these deep pockets that gave Enron the courage to march into one risky project after another around the world.

You've probably heard about Enron's Dabhol power plant project in India. But I bet you didn't know that Enron actually helped hire police who then beat non-violent Indian protesters, including a pregnant woman dragged from her home? And one reason India's people remain incensed about this $30 billion project is that it was the biggest deal in India's history but it was struck behind closed doors.

In India, Enron consummated the deal in secret. In the Dominican Republic, Enron simply jacked up prices for electricity. The people refused to pay. The government paid the difference as long as it could, then it, too, refused. So blackouts came as punishment, lasting up to 20 hours, riots followed, and the lives of eight people were lost in clashes with police. Dominicans were even more outraged to hear that Enron and its partners bought the country's utility for almost a billion dollars less than its real value. Guess who the auditor was? Yup, none other than a local Arthur Andersen affiliate.

In other places, Enron's buddies in the US government made poor countries an offer they couldn't refuse. US Government officials actually threatened the impoverished country of Mozambique with an end to aid if they didn't accept Enron's bid to develop a natural gas field. The US Government kept pushing Enron's cause because it was invested up to its eyeballs in Enron. So Enron's scandals abroad didn't bother them. Enron only got the cold shoulder when its scandals affected Americans at home. Only then did it become the biggest corporate scandal in recent US history.

If we ever wonder why people overseas might be angry at Americans, just look at who our most powerful emissaries are abroad. And wonder no more.

In Washington, this is Daphne Wysham for Marketplace.