Money matters

Houston, May 29 (PTI): Ex-employees of the bankrupt energy giant, Enron, who lost their pension funds, could get a cheque in the mail within the next six months. A Federal judge has given his final approval this week to a settlement that could send about $69 million their way.

It amounts to about $3,500 per person when spread out over 20,000 existing and former workers. The actual number who will qualify and the division of the money, however, could be quite different.

The United States district judge Melinda Harmon said the settlement was fair to the current and former Enron workers seeking to recoup lost retirement savings through the lawsuit.

The judge approved the deal, which will use two Enron insurance policies to pay the workers ? assuming there is no appeal. Other similar settlements have been paid in months.

Former Enron chairman Ken Lay and ex-CEO Jeff Skilling tried to stop this settlement before because they were covered under the insurance being paid out but were excluded as settling defendants.

The $85-million insurance settlement resolves claims against the Enron administrative committee and officers and directors, other than Lay and Skilling.

Another $1.5 million will come from a US department of labour settlement of its lawsuit mirroring the employee complaint. About $300,000 could be paid to the government as a penalty.