Duncan dubbed 'hapless victim'

Lawyers for Andersen began yesterday painting a portrait of Mr David Duncan, the government's star witness against the troubled…

Lawyers for Andersen began yesterday painting a portrait of Mr David Duncan, the government's star witness against the troubled US accounting firm, as a hapless victim who was convinced to plead guilty despite believing for months he had not committed a crime in destroying Enron- related documents.

Mr Duncan, the sacked head of Andersen's audit team at Enron, last month pleaded guilty to destroying documents in October 2001 to impede an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into Enron's collapse.

Yet as late as March, Mr Duncan had agreed to co-operate with Andersen in defending the accounting firm against charges that it had shredded the documents of its second biggest client to obstruct justice.

Mr Rusty Hardin, Andersen's lawyer, has accused prosecutors of intimidating several witnesses charges that the prosecutors deny.

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Under cross-examination by Mr Hardin Mr Duncan said he only began questioning whether he had committed a crime between January and March of this year. That coincided with when Mr Duncan began meetings with the government.

Mr Duncan said he had based that new assessment on the interpretation of the law with the help of others.

Mr Hardin is hoping to convince the jury that Mr Duncan was pressured by the government into pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against his former employer, in return for a light sentence.