House investigators have released an email showing executives of Solyndra, the bankrupt solar energy firm that received $535 million in government loan guarantees, broke their pledge to voluntarily testify before Congress at a day of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s choosing.
Originally, the company’s president and chief executive, Brian Harrison, and W.G. Stover, Jr., its chief financial officer, were scheduled to testify as part of last Wednesday’s hearing on questionable loans before the House Energy and Commerce’s oversight subcommittee. That testimony was pushed back to this Friday, with the understanding, according to top committee members, that they would answer questions.
But yesterday, the executives informed the committee that they would be invoking their Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and oversight subcommittee chairman Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said this violated “repeated assurances that they would testify voluntarily and answer questions.” Today, they’ve released evidence backing up that view.
A letter sent by Solyndra’s counsel on Saturday, Sept, 10, read, “As I discussed a few moments ago, the CEO of Solyndra, Brian Harrison will appear voluntarily and answer the Committee’s questions on any day the Committee chooses, beginning next week and continuing thereafter. He will appear without any need to issue a subpoena. I respectfully request this delay for the reasons I described, particularly the possible benefit to the taxpayer.”
In an earlier email sent to the committee on July 13, Harrison claimed Solyndra was “currently on track to meet the job creation commitments agreed upon with the (Department of Energy)” and touted the company as “an example of a U.S. company using American innovation and ingenuity to compete in the global solar market…”
Just over six weeks later, the company announced its intention to file for bankruptcy protection.
