FBI investigating Solyndra for possible fraud

“The company is not aware of any wrongdoing by Solyndra officers, directors, or employees’’ related to the Energy Department loan guarantees or other actions and is cooperating fully with the US Attorney in San Francisco, a Sept. 20 statement from Solyndra said. David Miller, a company spokesman, did not immediately return a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment yesterday.

Solyndra’s collapse has prompted congressional scrutiny of the Obama administration, which issued final approval of the loan that also won support from officials in the administration of George W. Bush.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has investigated the loan since February, have said the administration pressured US loan officers to expedite the review of Solyndra’s application so it could be promoted as a stimulus success story. The firm was the first to receive a guarantee under the stimulus act and was the largest award given to a solar manufacturer under the program.

Democrats, who dispute accusations that politics played a role, joined Republicans in criticizing Solyndra’s chief executive, Brian Harrison, for what they called misrepresentations of the company’s finances in meetings with lawmakers.

“When Mr. Harrison was in my office in July, he said that Solyndra’s future was bright, with sales and production booming,’’ Representative Henry Waxman of California, top Democrat on the Energy committee, said at a Sept. 23 hearing where Harrison was a witness. “I’d like to know why he told me that in July, and then filed for bankruptcy one month later.’’

Harrison and the company’s chief financial officer, Bill Stover, invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions at the hearing.

Harrison joined Solyndra in July 2010, after Solyndra had received its loan guarantee and its auditor had warned its financial difficulties were deep enough to raise questions about how long it could survive.