Enron: UK press chief stands down

Lord Wakeham (left), shown as energy minister visiting Kuwait in 1991

LONDON, England -- The boss of Britain's press watchdog, Conservative ex-minister Lord Wakeham, is stepping aside to answer questions about his links with collapsed energy giant Enron.

Wakeham, 69, chairman of Britain's Press Complaints Commission, said the move was temporary while U.S. investigators looked into his links to Enron.

It was a "matter of honour," he said in a statement.

Wakeham, a former Conservative energy minister, was a non-executive director of Enron.

"As chairman of the Press Complaints Commission for the past seven years, I am only too aware of the damage that can be done to individuals and institutions that are thrust into the public spotlight," his statement said.

VIDEO/AUDIO   •  Senate unit faults Enron board   •  Corporate corruption in America  MORE STORIES   •  3 Britons charged in Enron fraud   •  Bush pushes for tougher corporate rules   •  Playboy exposes Enron workers  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Document: Powers report 9.5MB (PDF)   •  CNN/Money Special Report: Your 401(k)   •  Timeline: Shredding through history  RESOURCES   •  In-Depth: The end of Enron?   •  TIME.com: Inside the scandal

"Since the collapse of Enron, I have been unable to make any statement or undertake any interviews on the subject for legal reasons. I am conscious that some see this position as incompatible with the chairmanship of the commission," he added.

Wakeham's commission handles complaints about media intrusion and invasions of privacy.

John Wakeham was Britain's Energy Secretary for three years from 1989.

In that role he oversaw the privatisation of Britain's electricity industry as energy minister in the Conservative government and approved Enron's bid for permission to build one of the first gas-fired electric generating plants in Britain.

In 1994, two years after retiring from the post, Wakeham joined Enron as a non-executive director, with a reported $113,000-a-year salary, and sat on Enron's audit and compliance committee. Wakeham was drawn into the controversy earlier this week when he faced a call from the Liberal Democrats to stand aside from the PCC.

Questions have also been asked in Britain as to the ruling Labour Party's links with Enron.

Wakeham's party, the Conservatives, have said Tony Blair's party had strong ties with Enron and has even stronger ties with its accounting firm, Andersen.

They are questioning whether the now-bankrupt energy trader gave financial support to Labour after it came power in 1997 and wherther it helped change government policy?

"Well, there's certainly an interesting coincidence, isn't there?" Conservative Party spokesman Tim Collins said earlier this week.

"It would seem that around the time that Enron made a significant donation to the governing Labour Party in Britain, government policy was changed to allow Enron to build a gas-fired power station, which previously it wouldn't have been allowed to build.

"That is something that raises some quite serious question marks. That's why we're calling, in Britain, for a full inquiry."

The Labour Party denies any influence, telling CNN that Enron did not donate one penny to the party.

But Enron Europe did buy tables at various Labour Party functions and did pay $20,000 for one conference reception, for a total of some $50,000.

Meanwhile, a senior executive of Arthur Andersen, the accountancy firm which audited Enron, on Thursday defended the company's controversial links with the Labour Party.

Downing Street has dismissed suggestions that Labour might have lifted a ban on Andersen working for Whitehall because of those links.

The ban on Andersen, imposed in the wake of the DeLorean car scandal in Belfast, was lifted soon after Labour came to power in 1997.

The company was well known for courting senior Labour figures while they were in opposition and seconding personnel to help the party.

But John Ormerod, Andersen's UK managing partner, told the UK Press Association that there was nothing improper about those early links, and that subsequent work won by the company from the Labour Government had been secured fairly.