"Although I would like, more than you know, to answer the questions that you and your colleagues have about WorldCom, I have been advised by my counsel not to testify based on my fifth amendment constitutional rights," Ebbers said.

A fifth amendment plea allows witnesses who are subpoenaed by Congress to testify to decline to give testimony on the grounds that they may incriminate themselves.

"I do not believe I have anything to hide from this or any other proceeding," Ebbers said.

"I believe, despite its recent problems, WorldCom continues to be a valuable company that provides important services to many Americans and the United States government," Ebbers added.

Sullivan declined to comment beyond saying that his lawyers had advised him not to testify before Congress.

Lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee had wanted to question Ebbers and Sullivan about WorldCom's profit re-statement and they also wanted to know how much the former executives knew about the accounting practices that were used to artificially boost its profits dating back to 2001.

The lawmakers had wanted to question Sullivan -- who signed off all of WorldCom's financial statements as its CFO -- about WorldCom's accounting practices.

WorldCom's new CEO John Sidgmore, who took over the helm after Ebbers stepped down in April, is battling to keep the telecoms giant solvent in the wake of the 3.9 bln usd re-statement.

Ebbers has not commented publicly on his role in the affair, although WorldCom's new CEO, John Sidgemore, has said that Ebbers has enough private capital to repay some 400 mln usd in loans that were advanced to him during his tenure as CEO.

Ebbers use of the fifth amendment to avoid to testifying to Congress follows similar moves by former Enron Corp CEO Ken Lay and former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow who also invoked their fifth amendment rights to avoid giving testimony to lawmakers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil fraud suit against WorldCom, and Nasdaq is moving to delist the company's shares which have plunged from over 63.00 usd a share in June 1999 to penny-stock status.

Sullivan was dismissed by WorldCom's board of directors a day before its profit re-statement on June 25.

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