Sanjay Kumar ex-CEO of CA gets 12 years in Prison!

Just read a small news article on Google news today which said Sanjay Kumar, ex-CEO of CA (Computer Associates) was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison for orchestrating a $2.2 billion accounting fraud at the software company. He was also fined $8 million. Given the recent history of Enron, Tyco and MCI frauds, this did not surprise me. But it got me thinking…

10 years ago when I first read Sanjay Kumar’s name mentioned as a top executive of CA, I was impressed as he was young, seemed Indian and was heading a high-profile company. Later when I read his biography, I came to know he was from Sri Lanka. But still, he had the guy next door image who made it big. For many years thence, I kept reading his name on several news papers and Tech magazines and was suitably impressed. I did feel the Indian news media was biased towards him and was subconsciously promoting him.

He was looking at a life sentence and has gotten away lightly, compared to Jeff Skilling, ex-CEO of Enron who got 24 years and 4 months.

Sanjay Kumar will still be young (56) when he is released, so he may yet have life after prison. Sad nevertheless.