CA boss gets 12 years in clink

THE FORMER boss of Computer Associates, Sanjay Kumar, has been sentenced to 12 years' porridge and fined more than £4.2 million for his role in a multi-billion dollar company fraud.

In April, Kumar admitted charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice. According to the Beeb, the court heard how as part of a $2.2 billion accounting scandal Kumar had lied about software licence revenues to investors.

Kumar said that he knew he was wrong and there was no excuse for his conduct.

Although there were other Computer Associates executives who were involved in the scam, the prosecution said that Kumar was so involved with boosting sales figures for one particular quarter he flew in a corporate jet to Paris to finalise a $19 million deal and signed a contract that had been backdated.

Kumar masterminded a practice known as the "35-day month" and told sales people to complete deals after the quarter had closed and remove the time stamp from faxes.

All this boosted the outfit's sales figures in order to meet analysts' so-called "expectations". Kumar later lied under oath about the frauds and tried to buy the silence of potential witnesses, the prosecution said.

Computer Associates has since changed its name to CA. More here. µ

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