Solyndra CEO Agreed To Answer House Inquiry Before Invoking Fifth

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The CEO of solar panel company Solyndra at the time of its bankruptcy, who will be invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to speak at a House investigative hearing into the company this Friday, Sept. 23, originally said he would answer representatives’ questions, according to an email from his attorney.

The email, sent Sept. 10 by Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison’s counsel (the actual lawyer’s name has been redacted) was posted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday.

In it, the lawyer writes:

“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.”

The letter was put up after the news broke on Tuesday that Harrison and Solyndra CFO W.G. Stover will refuse to answer the Committee’s questions under their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. That news was communicated to the Committee via letters from the exec’s attorneys.

Shortly thereafter, Committee chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) released a statement lambasting the execs for declining to speak at the hearing, asking “Who exactly are Solyndra’s executives trying to protect and what are they trying to hide?

It’s worth nothing the Solyndra execs still expected to appear at the hearing, presumably to whisper to their lawyers, who will do all the talking.

Stearns has taken a particularly harsh stance against Solyndra as of late, buoyed by general Republican criticism of the failed solar energy project, although many of the Republicans now leading the charge against Solyndra, including Stearns, have previously supported government support of clean energy and even requested federal loan guarantees for companies in their home states.

The subcommittee has been investigating the Department of Energy’s decision to grant Solyndra a $535 million loan guarantee in 2009 in an effort to uncover some sort of impropriety or political favoritism on the part of the Obama Administration (due to the fact that among Solyndra’s private investors was a foundation started by an Obama 2010 campaign bundler, George Kaiser).

This despite the fact that Solyndra’s loan guarantee, and the Loan Program Office itself, were initiated under the Bush Administration.

The subcommittee’s hearing is scheduled for Friday, September 23 at 9:00 a.m. ET.

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