NEW YORK - The business editor of India's largest television network says that Enron Corp. offered him a $1 million-a-year job in a bid to silence his criticism of the company's plans to build a plant in his country, according to CBS' "60 Minutes."
The claim was made by Raghu Dhar of Zee TV, who spoke in an interview with the show that will air Sunday. Dhar said Enron offered him a job to be a spokesman for the company.
Enron spokesman John Ambler said he was not aware of any such claim.
"We find it extraordinarily difficult to believe that anything like this occurred," he said Thursday.
The show reports that Enron, with the help of the U.S. government, successfully pushed for an built a $3 billion power plant even though it would quadruple Indian electricity bills while guaranteeing big profits to Enron.
Dhar had said that the deal called for Enron to be paid for all the power that was produced, whether or not it was actually used.
"Yes, of course (the job offer was to buy silence)," Dhar said. "These are the kinds of things which raised our eyebrows ... absolute arrogance. It was something I had not seen American companies do abroad, really."
The plant was shut down last year after India's state electric company could no longer pay the bills.
Monday
July 7th, 2025
1:58PM
