Trial, Day 4: Quest for the truth?

Former Enron investor relations head Mark Koenig went on the defense yesterday as Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's lawyers tried to attack his credibility by asking why he didn't get himself fired. Last week, Koenig testified to prosecutors that he helped artificially inflate Enron's profits to fool investors and analysts — and he said Lay and Skilling were active in that deception. Which left the natural question for the defense: Why didn't Koenig tell anyone, bring down the company and ensure he'd lose his job?

"We had a desire at Enron headquarters to beat (the expectations) by 2 cents. We thought it would maintain or increase the stock price," said Koenig, who said Skilling authorized the fudging.

Today, [Skilling's lawyer Dan] Petrocelli pressed Koenig on why he didn't speak out about the alleged fraud as it happened.

"You never said 'Mr. Skilling, why are you spearheading a criminal conspiracy,' did you?" Petrocelli asked.

"No," Koenig replied.

"And you never saw a single e-mail or memo that said Mr. Skilling broke the law? Or Mr. Lay?"

Koenig said he had not.

Petrocelli pressed Koenig on why he didn't tell anyone — Vinson & Elkins investigators, a law firm representing the Enron board, a bankruptcy examiner or criminal prosecutors — that he had helped lie about the company's profits. And Houstonist wonders: Why would he? Seems to us it would take more than most people have in them to 'fess up to doing things that help ensure your gazillion-dollar salary, especially in as competitive a culture as reportedly existed at Enron. Petrocelli also accused Koenig of lying in his testimony last week because he wants to protect his $5 million in assets, but Koenig said that ship had sailed: "I'm in 14 civil lawsuits," he said. "I would love to keep the five, but I don't have a chance of keeping it."

The cross-examination of Koenig is expected to continue today.