Credit Raters Called To Account

Representatives of Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Investor's Services were hauled before Congressional investigators recently and questioned.

Harvey Pitt, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has also confirmed that it was looking at the way the credit ratings performed pursuant to the Enron situation.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's defended their position by advising that they were misled by the failed energy giant and that they were not provided with key information about the offshore partnerships which eventually led to the demise of the corporate. They claimed that they lacked information about Enron that placed investors at risk.

US lawmakers are looking carefully at the situation and are determined to establish criteria to ensure that there is no repeat of the Enron scandal.