Houston ? Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling declared he was “absolutely innocent” Monday as he began to testify in his own defense in his fraud and conspiracy trial.

The 52-year-old one-time corporate celebrity whose reputation as a business wunderkind shattered along with the company he once ran also said he “never … not once” considered making a deal with prosecutors the way more than a dozen other Enron executives did.

Skilling, known for his plainspoken manner and bravado as he led Enron’s transformation from a staid pipeline company into an energy trading giant, addressed jurors directly.

Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling’s lawyer, noted that among the Enron executives who pleaded guilty to crimes and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors were Skilling’s friends and co-workers. The defense has maintained throughout the 11-week trial that most of them did so in response to government pressure to avoid trials or lengthy prison terms and were actually innocent.

Petrocelli asked Skilling if he thought his former co-workers were guilty.

“I would say the vast majority who testified here are in my opinion not guilty,” Skilling said without naming names.

Skilling repeated his twice-made assertion that Enron was in “very good condition” when he left the company in August 2001 and that he never would have jumped ship if he’d known it was going to collapse into bankruptcy proceedings less than four months later.

“It’s almost inconceivable now what happened,” he said.