HOUSTON (Reuters) - The first Enron criminal case to go to trial appeared at first blush to be a snoozer, focusing on an obscure deal to sell barges in Nigeria five years ago and lacking big names from the bankrupt energy giant.

But it may be a sleeper, after last week's revelation that the U.S. Justice Department's star informant has testimony that was more helpful to the defendants, four former Merrill Lynch bankers and two ex-Enron Corp. executives.

The criminal conspiracy trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday afternoon in U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein's Houston federal court. It is expected to last five weeks.

Before it starts, Enron Task Force prosecutors and the defense will tangle over startling evidence from former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow. The government's top cooperating witness, Fastow pleaded guilty to separate fraud charges in January.

The information was turned over just days before the trial, prompting the defendants variously to ask for a delay, the dismissal of the charges and the handover of all Fastow-related material.

According to a summary of what Fastow told the government, some of what he said appears to undercut the prosecution's key contention: that the defendants knew and hid the fact the $28 million barge sale was really a loan.

Prosecutors say Fastow orally promised Merrill that someone would buy back the barges within six months at a 22 percent premium, making the deal's accounting fraudulent -- and hiding it as a crime.

But the new Fastow information complicates that argument, said David Berg, a lawyer with Berg & Androphy in Houston and author of "The Trial Lawyer: What It Takes To Win."

"If they go to trial with this, this does seem -- certainly from Merrill's Lynch's standpoint -- to lessen their culpability. And it lessens the culpability of the Enron employees," Berg said.

Fastow does not appear on the government's witness list and it was unclear if defense attorneys would call him, since his testimony could backfire for them. The prosecutors are also more familiar with his knowledge, giving them an edge when questioning him on the stand.

GUARANTEED?

The defendants are former Enron finance executive Dan Boyle, former Enron accountant Sheila Kahanek and former Merrill bankers Daniel Bayly, Robert Furst, William Fuhs and James Brown.

Most were lower-level employees, although Bayly was the former chairman of investment banking and Brown the head of the bank's strategic lease and finance group.

Fastow told investigators that he avoided using the word "guarantee" when persuading Merrill to accept the deal, so the accounting would not be blown. He also did not say Enron would buy back the barges, but that a third party would.

The third party was LJM2, the partnership Fastow controlled and used to concoct complex deals that helped Enron hide its debt and burnish its finances. It also enriched him by tens of millions of dollars that prosecutors say was stolen from Enron.

Legal experts say the fact that Fastow told Merrill a third party was interested in buying the barges means the bankers could not have known they were helping Enron perpetrate fraud. Prosecutors must prove that they knew what they were doing was illegal.

On the other hand, Fastow told the FBI that his conversation with Merrill could be seen in total as a promise that would have destroyed the accounting treatment.

Berg expects prosecutors to argue that Fastow was essentially speaking in code, making the guarantee without doing so explicitly.

The prosecution also has the advantage that Enron, as the poster child for corporate malfeasance, carries a taint.

"The problem for any defendant in any corporate white-collar case nationwide is Enron," he said.

The six defendants are all charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and falsify books and record, for which they face a maximum of five years in prison.

Fuhs is also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements, and Brown with obstruction and perjury. Those carry additional maximum punishments of up to 15 years in prison.

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