Executives from bankrupt PV module manufacturer Solyndra have decided to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights to not answer questions during their appearance at an upcoming congressional hearing investigating their loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
In a written statement quoted by the New York Times spokesperson David Miller denied any wrongdoing by Solyndra personnel throughout the course of the DOE loan-guarantee due-diligence process.
Miller's recap of Solyndra's final days appears to blame the DOE for the company's bankruptcy. If the agency had agreed to a ‘lifeline deal’ featuring a new investment structure, Solyndra may have been able to avoid bankruptcy, he said.
‘As late as August, the company believed that existing investors and the DOE would come to a financing arrangement that would have secured the capital the company needed to achieve positive cashflow from operations,’ Miller wrote in his statement. ‘The company's investors had offered a transaction pursuant to which the required capital would have been invested; however, the terms of such transaction were not acceptable to the DOE.’
However, an unidentified Obama administration official told the New York Times that Solyndra ran out of money before any such discussions regarding a DOE loan-guarantee restructuring could have been completed.
A new hearing on Solyndra is scheduled for this Friday, according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
