Former CA CEO sentenced to 12 years in prison

Sanjay Kumar was also ordered to pay an $8 million fine for his involvement in a corporate accounting scandal.

A U.S. district court judge in New York today sentenced Sanjay Kumar, former chief executive officer of Computer Associates, to 12 years in prison and fined him $8 million for his participation in an accounting scandal that rocked CA, one the world’s biggest software manufacturers.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Judge Leo Glasser could have sentenced Kumar to life in prison, but Glasser called that unreasonable.

Kumar pled guilty in April to obstruction of justice and securities fraud charges.

According to the indictment, Kumar filed false revenue figures for a financial quarter after it closed, and he and other executives instructed salespeople to complete deals after the quarter had closed. They then cleaned up the contracts by removing time stamps from faxes.

“I know that I was wrong and there was no excuse for my conduct,” Kumar told the judge at his sentencing.

He was ordered to surrender to authorities Feb. 27, 2007, to begin serving his sentence.