HOUSTON — Defense lawyers for Arthur Andersen LLP wrapped up their case Tuesday in the firm's obstruction of justice trial, moving a Texas jury close to deciding the fate of the once-mighty accounting firm.

        Andersen's final witness, national audit practice manager John Riley, maintained for a second day under questioning by prosecutor Andrew Weissmann that he had no reason to anticipate Securities and Exchange Commission interest in the firm's Enron Corp. documents until just before the agency subpoenaed Andersen.

        “I was concerned with (Enron's) financial statements and making sure they were right,” said Mr. Riley, a prominent SEC accountant for 11 years until returning to Andersen in 1995. “What happens after that is beyond my control.”

        Mr. Riley, based in San Diego and dubbed Andersen's “fix-it guy” by Mr. Weissmann, visited Houston last Oct. 24 for three days, then was joined by a team of Andersen executives the next week to sort out emerging problems with Enron's accounting.

        Mr. Riley told Mr. Weissmann repeatedly he didn't conclude the SEC would have serious interest in Andersen's auditing of Enron until Nov. 5, when he and others determined the energy trader needed to restate financial results back through 1997. A subpoena arrived Nov. 8.

        Mr. Weissmann frequently implied Mr. Riley, with his SEC experience, should have sniffed an imminent probe in October when it seemed Enron would have to restate past balance sheets to account for a $1 billion writedown of equity value.

        But defense attorney Rusty Hardin got Mr. Riley to repeat his belief that Andersen should not have assumed subpoenas were coming just because of the equity revision.

        “Toward the end of October I really did not have in my mind ... a request from the SEC for documents,” said Mr. Riley, who rose to chief accountant of the SEC's corporation finance division before rejoining Andersen, where he briefly worked early in his career.

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