DOCUMENT: Crime

Enron's "Code Of Ethics"

64-page guide is "Exhibit 1" as trial gets underway

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Enron's "Code Of Ethics"

JANUARY 30--With jury selection opening today in the criminal trial of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, it seems appropriate to present excerpts from the in-house "Code of Ethics" that once was distributed to employees of the Houston-based energy firm.

Recipients of the 64-page booklet also got an accompanying letter from Lay, Enron's founder and former chairman, noting the "moral and honest manner" in which the company's business affairs should be conducted. This document is probably what federal prosecutors now refer to as "Exhibit 1" in their case against Lay, 63, and the 52-year-old Skilling, Enron's former CEO.

Here you'll find selected pages from the Enron guide, a volume that surely was never cracked open by most of the Texas bandits who bankrupted the firm, cost many retirees their nest eggs, and left thousands unemployed. (6 pages)