WorldCom bosses don't answer phones

The double-act known to Wall Street as the Scott and Bernie Show was not playing yesterday.

With investigations under way into their activities, which apparently led WorldCom to the verge of bankruptcy, Bernie Ebbers, the former president, and Scott Sullivan, the chief financial officer sacked on Monday, were conspicuous by their absence.

"I have no idea where Bernie is," said a receptionist at the WorldCom office in Jackson, Mississippi. WorldCom's press office was also unable to throw any light on his whereabouts.

At WorldCom's corporate headquarters in Clinton, west of Jackson, the massed ranks of satellite vans belonging to the nation's TV networks were parked up, desperate to film something. And local people who had admired Mr Ebbers expressed anger. "I'm disgusted," said Jean Sain, a Jackson estate agent who bought stock in the firm.

Nancy Anderson, a financial analyst working in Clinton, said: "I've said many times as I've watched the Enron scandal and others unfold that these guys have done more damage to the market than the terrorists in September."