Washington, July 26: A senator leading an investigation into big investment banks' ties with now-bankrupt Enron has asked the heads of Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase & Co. to answer questions on their use of offshore companies in deals with Enron. Democratic Sen. Carl Levin sent letters on Thursday to Citigroup chairman and chief executive officer Sanford Weill and JP Morgan Chase president and CEO William Harrison, setting a Monday deadline for them to personally provide the information.

Levin heads the investigative panel of the senate governmental affairs committee. At a hearing of the panel on Tuesday, a committee investigator testified that the Wall Street investment banks, including Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, gave Enron multimillion-dollar loans that helped the energy-trading giant disguise its true financial condition.

In some cases, the investigator said, the banks knew Enron was using deceptive accounting for the loans.
Officials of Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase denied any wrongdoing in testimony at the hearing. Bureau Report