US President George W Bush has warned Wall Street that he wanted tough new criminal penalties for wayward executives to help restore confidence in a scandal-shaken US economy.
'My administration will do everything in our power to end the days of cooking the books, shading the truth and breaking our laws,' Bush said.
The US President pushed for new legislation would double the maximum prison terms for those convicted of financial fraud to 10 years and created a special task force to marshal investigation and prosecution of corporate wrongdoing.
He also pushed for beefing up laws against obstructions of justice, like the document-shredding disclosed as part of the bankruptcy of former energy giant Enron. And, promising to 'expose and root out corruption' in the nation's boardrooms, he advocated a 20% increase in funds and greater powers for US Securities and Exchange Commission regulators.
He urged Congress to immediately pass a $20 million funding request to allow the SEC to hire 100 new enforcement officers, and an extra $100 million in the fiscal year ending September 2003.
'With strict enforcement and higher ethical standards, we must usher in a new era of integrity in corporate America,' he declared in a much-awaited speech to corporate leaders on Wall Street.
The speech follows an avalanche of corporate scandals that began last year with the fall of Texas-based energy giant Enron. The group's auditor Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for destroying documents.
Outrage against corporate misdeeds reached a peak last month when telecommunications giant WorldCom revealed a $3.8 billion black hole in its accounts.
'The business pages of American newspapers should not read like a scandal sheet,' he said. 'America's greatest economic need is higher ethical standards, standards enforced by strict laws and upheld by responsible business leaders.'
