From Reuters Africa:
Solyndra execs will decline to testify at hearing
Solyndra LLC's chief executive and chief financial officer will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and decline to answer any questions put to them at a Congressional hearing on Friday, according to letters from their attorneys obtained by Reuters.The execs had previously stated they would not plead the fifth if given an extra week to prepare their testimony. Here's Money & Co.:
In the letters sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, attorneys for Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W. G. Stover said they advised their clients not to provide testimony during the hearings....MORE
Solyndra execs to take 5th, refuse to testify before House panel [Updated]
...[Updated at 2:37 p.m. Solyndra released a statement that acknowledged the executives' plans to take the Fifth, but said the company "is not aware of any wrongdoing by Solyndra officers, directors or employees in conjunction with the DOE loan guarantee or otherwise, and the company is cooperating fully with the office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California in its investigation." The company also said it "believes that the record will establish that Solyndra carefully followed the rules of the competitive application process, starting in December 2006 under the Bush administration and continuing under the Obama administration."]
[Updated at 4:09 p.m. Stearns and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released a joint statement criticizing the executives for choosing to not answer their questions. "Who exactly are Solyndra's executives trying to protect and what are they trying to hide?" the statement said. The Solyndra executives will still be asked to attend the meeting and will be sworn as witnesses, despite the announcement that they won't answer questions, the statement said. "We would encourage Mr. Harrison and Mr. Stover to reconsider this effort to dodge questions under oath and hide the truth from those American taxpayers who are now on the hook for their $500 million bust," Stearns and Upton said.]
