Washington, Nov 08: Enron's former chairman Kenneth lay today agreed to deliver all documents he had previously tried to withhold to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is probing the collapse of the energy giant, within three days. The SEC can use any of the documents he provides for any law-enforcement purposes, according to an agreement that was finalised in a court order today.


"Lay should produce to the sec within three days after entry of this order all documents requested by the (SEC) subpoena that he has withheld from the commission on the basis of the fifth amendment (right against self-incrimination)," the order read.


Lay had been scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington today, following sec complaints he had not fully complied with a subpoena for the documents. Minutes before the hearing was to begin, the judge issued the order formalizing the agreement between the sec and lay's lawyers.

Lawyers for lay have said he has already produced more than 23,000 pages of documents for the SEC's investigation of the Enron collapse in 2001 in a big accounting scandal.

Lay had argued the 870 pages of documents he had withheld were personal rather than corporate in nature. He said he wanted to invoke his constitutional fifth amendment right against self-incrimination because the SEC would not guarantee the information would not be later used against him.

In September, the SEC said that it was looking into whether lay knew of, or was involved in, fraudulent activity at Enron.
Bureau Report