Solyndra Bankruptcy: House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Meeting

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy after the Department of Energy guaranteed loans to construct a manufacturing center. Solyndra claimed it cannot compete with foreign solar panel manufacturers. After the bid for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Department of energy rescinded further loan guarantees.

Solyndra is currently being investigated by the FBI and the Treasury Department's Inspector General as well as by Congress.

This article contains information obtained from a Congressional hearing held by a House of Representatives committee. In this House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing, Chief Financial Officer W. G. Stover and Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison were questioned.

On the advice of their attorneys, both Stover and Harrison claimed the Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate themselves in response to every question asked. However, the Republican representatives continued asking questions including questions for which the answers would not be self-incriminating. The Representative questioned whether a witness had the right to claim the Fifth Amendment if the witness would not incriminate himself when providing an answer to a question.

Eventually a Democratic Representative informed the committee that answering any question would waive the Fifth Amendment rights and that the continued questioning of a witness claiming the Fifth Amendment was struck down by the US Supreme Court. The Representative referred to this as badgering the witness. One Representative accused a witness of lying to him in a prior meeting.

There were unjustified biased innuendos accusing Obama of having foreknowledge of the condition of the company and disregarding it. This was in part due to the fact that Obama pressed the Department of Energy to speed up the processing of the loans.

I think that the 5th amendment was claimed because even though the answers to some questions may not have been incriminating, those answers would have provided the committee with witnesses who had incriminating evidence against W.G. Stover and Brian Harrison.

I also think that this committee should provide subpoenas for the Department of Defense Officials who evaluated Solyndra's finances before authorizing the guaranteed loan and for other employees of Solyndra who prepared the detailed financial data for the Department of Energy. I think President Obama should provide written testimony to the committee if he is unable to make a personal personal appearance. Obama, the Department of Energy and the officials of Solyndra should cooperate fully with the committee and with the Department of Justice.

If Solyndra falsified financial documents in order to obtain a loan, why didn't the DOE's evaluation of Solyndra's financial documents expose the crime? When did President Obama become aware that Solyndra's real financial condition and how did President Obama react to this information?

Last but not least, I think the committee should refrain from casting aspersions. The committee should execute an objective and thorough investigation into each and every aspect of this alleged theft of the tax payer's money.