July 9. 2002

Bush Seeks 'New Era of Corporate Integrity'
Tue Jul 9,12:14 PM ET
By Randall Mikkelsen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Bush on Tuesday sought to boost criminal penalties for corporate abuses and beef up the federal securities watchdog in his response to accounting scandals that have shaken investor confidence and threatened to become a political liability.

While Bush's call for doubling the maximum prison terms for mail and wire fraud would require legislative action, many of his proposals on Tuesday relied on self-policing by companies and by the U.S. stock exchanges.