Reply #68: Andersen Innocent? Think Again.

[UpInArms]

http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2005/mft05060109.htm

As a matter of law, the United States Supreme Court is always right -- at least until two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of the states say otherwise. But as a matter of common sense, the "Supremes" sometimes get it wrong. Yesterday marked one such occasion: The highest court in the land threw out the "guilty" verdict handed down to accounting firm Arthur Andersen in June 2002.

But before I take off my lawyer hat and start practicing common sense, let's make one thing crystal clear: The Supreme Court did not declare Andersen "innocent" yesterday. It only pointed out that the trial court's instructions to the jury were too lax, thereby allowing the possibility that jurors convicted Andersen without the government proving the accounting firm's guilt. In essence, the high court said: "The judge goofed, and you need to try Andersen again." That's it.

So when Andersen's PR guy characterized the court's decision as dispelling "an unjustified cloud over the professionalism and integrity of the people of Arthur Andersen," that's a bit of a stretch. When he termed the shredding of 2 tons of documents on the eve of a subpoena a "routine business decision," it strained credibility. And when Andersen's attorney asserted that the company and its employees "never intended to do anything wrong" and "certainly never intended to obstruct justice," well, that's what he's paid to say, of course. But saying it doesn't make it so. Put all that self-congratulatory verbiage together, and it amounts to little more than the verbal equivalent of a pile of stinky red herring.

Don't buy that fish.

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