NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - HealthSouth Corp. former CEO Richard Scrushy declined to answer questions from lawmakers Thursday, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights after he was called to testify before a House panel.
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Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy invokes the Fifth Amendment and gives his opening statement before a House panel.
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"The committee wants me to answer charges without facing my accusers," Scrushy told the lawmakers. "I am therefore, by advice of my counsel, forced to take the Fifth Amendment today until I can get a venue where I can face my accusers."
Scrushy's brief statement, in which he said that he would not testify, came after he appeared on the CBS News program "60 Minutes" Sunday and denied allegations he inflated earnings and misled stockholders about the company's financial condition.
To no avail, lawmakers pelted Scrushy with questions and excoriated him for refusing to answer their questions even though he responded to similar questions in an interview aired on "60 Minutes."
"He agreed to answer the questions put to him by a reporter, but now refuses to answer questions put to him by the representatives of the investing public who lost so much money in the almost total decimation of HealthSouth's stock last year," said Rep. James Greenwood (R-Pa.), the panel's chairman.
Scrushy was at first placed on administrative leave and eventually dismissed from HealthSouth, the nation's largest chain of rehabilitation clinics. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Scrushy with insider trading and accounting fraud but no criminal charges have been filed.
The Birmingham, Ala.-based provider of physical therapy, outpatient surgery, and other services has been accused by authorities of $2.5 billion in accounting fraud since 1994.
Fifteen former HealthSouth officers have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and have agreed to cooperate with ongoing Justice Department and SEC probes.
Susan Jones-Smith, former senior vice president of finance in HealthSouth's reimbursement division, also invoked her constitutional right not to testify before the committee.
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