Mr Lay is facing seven charges of conspiracy and fraud. According to reports in the US legal media, federal prosecutors have identified around 100 former Enron employees as "unindicted co-conspirators".

Mr Lay explained that:

"This has caused virtually all of them to refuse to talk with our lawyers and will almost certainly cause any of those that are subpoenaed by us to testify to assert their Fifth Amendment rights."

Calling on those in the know to come forward, the former Enron boss argued that:

"Either we proclaim the truth about Enron and its emplyees in this trial, or our friends, neighbours, potential employers and others will continue to believe that Enron was a criminal enterprise."

The jury trial of the fraud and conspiracy case being brought against Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, and the firm's former chief accountant, Richard Causey is expected to begin in January 2006. Charges that Kenneth Lay lied to banks regarding his intention to use loans granted to him to purchase Enron stocks on margin before the firm's stock price plummeted in 2001 will be heard will be heard in parallel, but by District Judge Sim Lake alone.

Explaining his decision to waive his right to a jury trial, Lay told the judge last May that:

"We have confidence in your honor and think a bench trial is the most appropriate way for it to be decided."