Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer accused of fueling Enron Corp's downfall, was due to be arraigned later yesterday regarding new charges filed against him earlier this month.

　　Fastow, 41, was indicted in October on 78 counts of fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Yesterday he was to be arraigned on new charges of insider trading, filing false tax forms and conspiracy to falsify books and records in an expanded indictment unveiled on May 1.

　　Fastow, who pleaded innocent to the first round of charges last year, was allowed to postpone his arraignment on the new charges because a status hearing in his case already had been slated for yesterday, according to the prosecutors of the case.

　　He won't appear in court under a new federal rule allowing defendants to waive appearances when new charges are added to existing indictments. US District Judge Kenneth Hoyt agreed to let his lawyers appear for him.

　　Fastow remains the highest-level executive to face criminal charges in a Justice Department investigation into Enron's 2001 collapse.

　　He is free on US million bond.

　　His former top lieutenant, Michael Kopper, pleaded guilty in August 2002 to running and helping create schemes that funneled kickbacks to Fastow and his wife, Lea, and others while undercutting Enron's purported financial health.

　　The expanded indictment added two defendants in the ex-chief financial officer's case.

　　Ben Glisan Jr, Enron's former treasurer earned US million on a US,800 investment in one of Fastow's partnerships, and Dan Boyle, a former Enron finance executive who was allegedly involved in a 1999 sham deal to sell Nigerian barges so the company could appear to reach earnings targets. Both pleaded innocent.