Enron ‘held no cookie jar fund’

Enron never used illegal cash reserves to disguise massive trading profits or cover earnings shortfalls, former chief Jeffrey Skilling said on Wednesday.

In his third day on the witness stand at a trial in Houston he testified that there was no “cookie jar” account.

Mr Skilling was denying claims by a former Enron executive that the company earned massive profits from trading power during the California power crisis in 2000 and illegally dumped the money in a “cookie jar” account to cover possible earnings shortfalls in the future.

“There were no cookie jar reserves at Enron,” he told defence lawyer Dan Petrocelli.

He also defended the reputation of Enron founder Kenneth Lay, saying the two were a “good team” that never knowingly broke the law.