Skilling denies cover-up at Enron

Former Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling has denied encouraging Enron workers to falsify profits at the firm.

In his second day of giving evidence at a trial in Houston he added prosecution witnesses had lied when they said he was part of such a cover-up.

“Did you ever have a single conversation where you sat down with anyone at Enron where you said in so many words, ‘Look we’re not cutting it, we need to break the law?'” Mr Skilling’s defence lawyer asked.

“No, I never did that,” the former Enron chief executive replied.

Mr Skilling also continued to tell the jury in the federal court that Enron had been putting in a “very strong competitive performance” throughout the 1990s.

He added that there was “no truth whatsoever” in prosecution claims that he had begun lying about the state of the firm’s finances as early as 1999.

He was also questioned as to whether he was capable of spearheading a plot to convince investors the company was in a better position than it actually was.

“Are you smart enough to mastermind this kind of conspiracy and pull it off without getting caught for years?” Mr Petrocelli went on.

“I don’t think so,” Mr Skilling said.

The comments come a day after he declared his “absolute innocence” in the case and vowed to “fight those charges till the day I die”.