Federal govt. should punish WorldCom for its accounting fraud sca...

Gen. Counsel Michael Salsbury dismissed initiative as latest in series of attacks orchestrated by Bells to block competition: “CWA’s sole interest in this stems from its cozy relationship with the Bell companies, whose stated goal is to prevent WorldCom from emerging from bankruptcy.” He said none of accounting issues under investigation “affected in any manner the provision of competitively priced services to any of our customers, including GSA.” In addition to cooperating with those inquiries, WorldCom “terminated the individuals responsible for the problem, and [has] taken prompt remedial action to assure those problems will not recur,” Salsbury said. CWA Pres. Morton Bahr said in call-in news conference that federal officials must step up efforts to ensure WorldCom discontinued its “predatory ways.” Company “deserves the same treatment” GSA afforded companies such as Enron, whose accounting fraud paled in comparison to WorldCom’s, yet resulted in disbarment from GSA procurement, he said. Gray Panthers’ Corporate Accountability Project Dir. Will Thomas said WorldCom was “grossly unfit to bid for future federal contracts.” Govt. shouldn’t reward WorldCom, which is guilty of “misleading employees about the viability of the company” while simultaneously encouraging those workers to buy more WorldCom stocks for their 401K plans, he said. National Black Chamber of Commerce Pres. Harry Alford said MCI, before being “gobbled up” by WorldCom, had provided significant opportunities to small businesses and students through various entrepreneurship programs: “When MCI merged… with WorldCom, all of those activities ceased.” He said that as result of company’s overall record, “GSA should view WorldCom as untrustworthy,” particularly in businesses such as telecom that are so vital to national security.