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US moves to take over Enron pensions

The US Labor department plans to seek the removal of the Enron Corp officials who oversee the company's retirement plans and replace them with independent experts, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

The report said the department has been investigating Enron's handling of its retirement plans. Workers and retirees lost more than $1 billion because of the energy trading giant's bankruptcy.

Enron's collapse wiped out most of the retirement savings of thousands of the company's employees, whose company-administered 401(K) accounts were heavily loaded with Enron stock that is now nearly worthless.

The post quoted US assistant labor secretary Ann Combs as saying that the Enron officials ''serve as plan fiduciaries, with responsibility for operating the plans and protecting the rights of participants and beneficiaries.''

''Our objective is to replace them with an independent fiduciary,'' she said.

In a statement quoted by the newspaper, combs said that if her department can ''reach an advantageous agreement (to replace the fiduciaries), without engaging in a lengthy court proceeding, we will do so. If no agreement is reached in the very near future, we will seek a court order replacing these people with a qualified independent fiduciary.''

On December 2, Enron filed the largest bankruptcy in US history, wiping out thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in equity held by employees and other investors.

The collapse of Houston-based Enron is under investigation by the US Justice department, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and nine congressional committees.

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