Xerox Corporation has put the blame for payments of kickbacks by its Indian subsidiary Xerox Modicorp on the management appointed by B. K. Modi controlled Modicorp (now known as SpiceCorp). “In October 2000, it (Xerox) discovered that members of senior management team of Xerox Modicorp, a joint venture company of which Xerox gained majority ownership in August 1999, has been engaged in a system which it believes was providing improper payments to government employees in connection with equipment sales,” the US-based transnational corporation said in statement from London. “Knowledge of this activity was obtained after Xerox Corp replaced the management originally appointed by Modicorp Ltd. The senior managers responsible for improper disbursements are no longer with the company (Xerox Modicorp),” Xerox stated in a two-page press release. A SpiceCorp (then known as ModiCorp) spokesperson declined to comment on Xerox’s salvo against its Indian partner but a company official claimed that all sales and marketing heads till 1996 and managing directors since that year were representatives of Xerox. Xerox MIERA group vice-president that Xerox Modicorp chairman Jule E. Limoli said his company welcomed “government investigations following our voluntary submissions to the US and Indian authorities and will cooperate fully with their enquiries”.
