CA fires 9 over accounting fraud

In its latest management purge amid federal investigations, Computer Associates International Inc. on Monday said it fired nine employees i...

In its latest management purge amid federal investigations, Computer Associates International Inc. on Monday said it fired nine employees in connection with an independent probe by its board into accounting practices.

CA didn’t name the individuals, but sources said among them was Michael McElroy, a senior vice president in the company’s legal department who formerly served as corporate secretary. McElroy, who hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing, couldn’t be reached at his office or home. CA spokesman Bob Gordon declined to confirm the identity of those fired. CA also fired Don Watnick, a member of its legal department who was among those attorneys responsible for document production for federal authorities, sources said.

Five members of CA’s finance department also were released. Asked if others might be ordered to leave as a result of the board report, Gordon would only say the internal investigation ‘‘is still not final.’’ Experts viewed the firings as an attempt by CA and its board to show authorities they are acting proactively as they attempt to settle civil charges against the company and head off a possible criminal indictment of CA.

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Yet as the board prepares to meet, some questioned whether its members are prepared to go far enough. People familiar with the government probe said those fired on Monday are viewed as relatively minor players in the accounting probe. Their dismissals, while helpful in showing the company is taking remedial steps, might not be enough to deflect any possible indictment of it, according to the sources.

A former SEC commissioner recommended the board aim higher. Given indications that CA chairman and chief executive Sanjay Kumar is a focus of federal probes, ‘‘If I were on the board of directors, I would say to my colleagues on the board, ‘He has to go. We can’t keep him,’ ’’ said James Needham, a one-time SEC commissioner and former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

Sources have said the company’s internal report does not implicate Kumar in the wrongdoing. —(Latwp)

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