Senate Panel Says Enron Must Detail Policy Role: Subpoenas Shift Probe To White House Contacts

Congressional probes into Enron Corp. turned for the first time to the White House yesterday. A Senate committee issued subpoenas to the collapsed energy company and its accountant to see what role Enron had in creating the administration's energy policy.

The batch of 29 subpoenas significantly expands the Enron investigations in Congress to examine not only the firm's corporate failings but also its political contacts. The subpoenas add a new front in the battle to obtain information about the White House's energy task force; the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has sued the administration for task force records.