The top US securities regulator put WorldCom Inc executives on notice that "people will pay heavily" if there are any falsehoods in a report due yesterday detailing the company's accounting scandal.
"We're demanding that they make a statement under oath, telling the American public exactly what went on there and what their true financial condition is," Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt said Sunday.
The telecommunications company disclosed last week that it disguised nearly US$4 billion in expenses from the investing public.
PHOTO: AP
The SEC filed civil fraud charges and gave WorldCom, based in Clinton, Mississippi, until Monday morning to file a detailed report on the "circumstances and specifics of these matters."
"If there's even an iota of false statement in there, people will pay heavily," Pitt said on ABC television's "This Week."
"If the truth is in there and people get to know at least what the circumstances are, then we'll have an informed market, and there won't be insiders who can play games with the unsuspecting public," he said.
President George W. Bush appears to have left open the possibility of a criminal investigation, pledging Friday that the Justice Department will "hold people accountable" for mismanaging their companies through deceit and corruption.
The president plans to address the issue more fully in a speech on July 9. Bush's advisers are prepared to recommend that he propose new criminal penalties for corporate executives who certify misleading financial statements, a senior administration official said.
A bill written by Democrats to tighten oversight of the accounting industry with a new private-sector body is expected to reach the Senate floor after Congress returns from its July 4 recess.
The White House has said the president might support the legislation if it is changed to give the SEC greater administrative authority.
"What we want is a much tougher set of rules that is subject to the SEC's oversight and jurisdiction and that's the way we hope ultimately the Senate bill will go," Pitt said. "I want the toughest, most pragmatic approach that we can take."
Xerox Corp announced Friday that it improperly recorded billions of dollars more revenue in the past five years than the SEC had estimated when it took enforcement action against the company this spring.
"We're not finished with the Xerox case," Pitt said. "Everyone who may have been involved is still under investigation. And before much longer, we're going to make all of them responsible for what they've done."
The SEC is also investigating Halliburton Co for its accounting practices in 1998, while Vice President Dick Cheney was its chief executive.
Asked if the administration's tough stand on chief executives acting responsibly would apply in that case, Pitt said: "We don't give anyone a pass. If anybody violates the law, we go after them."
Seeking to prevent future abuses, the SEC Thursday ordered large companies to provide sworn statements from their chief executive officer and chief financial officer certifying the accuracy of financial reports.
The SEC has also sought to prevent the destruction of documents by WorldCom and payouts to company executives while the agency investigates.
WorldCom, second to only AT&T in the long-distance market, grew from a small telephone company into one of the industry's biggest players.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique