Washington ? Hewlett-Packard Co.’s current and former board leaders readily agreed Thursday with outraged lawmakers that the storied Silicon Valley company had behaved horribly in trying to ferret out boardroom leaks.

Neither, though, was willing to take the blame.

Addressing a scandal that congressmen likened to Watergate and Enron – and which toppled Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, two other directors and at least three high-ranking executives – current Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd apologized for the tactics.

Those methods including “pretexting,” – impersonating others to obtain their phone records – surveilling directors, relatives and at least one journalist, sifting through their garbage and sending a reporter an e-mail with tracing technology.

“If Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were alive today, they’d be appalled,” Hurd said, referring to the company’s founders. Like Dunn, he said he had been unaware of the investigation’s details.

In one key document cited by the House Energy and Commerce Committee at its all-day hearing Thursday, an HP investigator had warned higher-ups that the methods might be illegal and at the very least could damage the company’s reputation.

Few answers emerged, however, about how the investigation descended into such tawdry tactics.

Ten people involved in the operation – including the former ethics officer and General Counsel Ann Baskins, who resigned Thursday – asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, refusing to answer questions.