US President Mr George W. Bush has promised aggressive prosecution of corrupt chief executives under a law he will sign today to combat fraud by companies and their accountants.
"If you're a CEO and you think you can fudge the books in order to make yourselves look better, we're going to find you, we're going to arrest you and we're going to hold you to account," Mr Bush said in some of his harshest remarks on the wave of accounting scandals that have prompted a sell-off in stocks and fueled fears of another economic downturn.
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"We expect you to be responsible with the people's money. We expect you to be responsible for the shareholders and your employees," Mr Bush said of the nation's chief executive officers. He warned that his administration would "prosecute you if you don't uphold your responsibilities".
Mr Bush made the remarks a day after Qwest Communications International, under federal investigation for its accounting practices, announced it would restate its financial results because it improperly booked $1.16 billion in sales and other items from 1999 to 2001.
Last week three members of the family that founded troubled cable operator Adelphia Communications Corp were arrested on fraud charges. The Washington Postreported that the Justice Department was poised to file criminal charges against former WorldCom Inc. executives on allegations they improperly accounted for $3.9 billion.