Richard Causey, the last of the top executives of Enron Corp. to learn his punishment, was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for his role in the company's corporate scandal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Causey, 46, the energy-trading company's former chief accounting officer, pleaded guilty in December 2005 to securities fraud, two weeks before his scheduled trial along with Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling on conspiracy, fraud and other charges related to the company's collapse.

Causey also agreed to pay 1.25 million U.S. dollars to the government and forfeited a claim to about 250,000 dollars in deferred compensations as part of his plea agreement.

Unlike others at Enron, Causey did not skim millions of dollars for himself from shady deals.

Lay and Skilling were convicted in May of conspiracy and fraud, but Lay's convictions were wiped out with his death in July from heart disease.

Last month, Skilling was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison. He was directed by federal authorities to report to the federal correctional facility in Waseca, Minn by Dec. 12. Skilling has said he plans to appeal his conviction.

Enron, once the seventh-largest company in the United States, collapsed and filed bankruptcy proceedings in 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debts or make failing ventures appear profitable.

Source: Xinhua