Newsday from New York, New York • 55

s-: -J: v-V A55 4 risftPSOO rj NASDAQ fl 77676 Vjr -2179 1 BONO YIELDS 10-year Treasury 357 Down from 363 DOW -21522 TREND -1510 MIST MTW At least 12 fired in Mass more than 400 clients to be alerted change Commission are investigating accounting practices though that probe focuses primarily on pro-1999 practices sources have said Still at least two former Framingham employees have reached out to the US Attorney in Brooklyn offering information on the practices which covered five northeastern states according to former staffers According to numerous accounts of the events in Framingham including his own Kumar took quick action after receiving a phone call from a Framingham employee on July 19 confirming red flags from an internal audit in the spring Kumar declined to name any CA clients affected by the doctoring but sources said discrepancies on a contract involving Fleet Bank of Boston were the first internal sign of a problem A Fleet spokeswoman return phone calls Around 15 clients have been identified as affected by the practices Kumar said By Marie" Harrington BTAirwsm Two months alter an informant and internal auditors unmasked a scheme by Boston-region managers to doctor tautomer contracts Computer Associates International Inc this week will alert more than 400 clients to'" the and its efforts to resol ve'it officials said Since it first received concrete evidence of the tices in late July CA has let go more than a i people including managers in its Framingham Mass office In a Nowaday story in July CA labeled the scheme "commission and stud it had turned over information to law enforcement officials No charges have been filed Yesterday chief executive Saqjay Kumar confirmed most elements of a monthlong Newsday examination of the events in which a small group of managers allegedly altered terms and conditions of contracts without knowledge primarily to boost their sales commissions Kumar who led the CA internal probe and crackdown confirmed that some transactions involved figged signatures and that some managers demanded kickhacka from their sales reps Software allegedly was shipped to a CA home to give the appearance that the products had been delivered to clients While its internal investigation of the practices is ongoing CA does not expect its findings to lead to a financial restatement said Kumar who wrote a letter alerting clients this week Where contract discrepancies exist he said CA will resolve them in favor of clients One person dose to the events however said the financial impact is still uncertain Kumar said that he led a similar crackdown on a rogue office in Spain several years ago firing half a dozen managers The revelations in Framingham come to light as the UJS Department of Justice and the Securities Ex I Scramble To Save TV Deal 3 I The California Public Retirement Sys- tern may buy a stake in the $1 7-billion AOL Time Warner Center the biggest US office project under construction looking for permanent financing when it said Stephen Ross whose Manhattan-based Related Cos is developing the complex at Columbus Circle with a real estate fund managed by financier Leon Apollo Management LP The largest US pension fund is one of two potential investors talking Ross said He identify the other got a superior asset a superior market and the ability to put a large investment into one said Scott Latham a senior director of Cushman ft Wakefield That offers efficiencies to funds like Calp-ers they cant find in other When completed next year the 28-million-square-foot two-tower complex at the southwest corner of Central Park will be the headquarters of AOL Time Warner Inc It also will include a 250-room Mandarin Oriental hotel 225 high-rise apartments shops production studios for CNN and the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert hall Calpers and a partner MacFarlane Partners LLC are in talks to acquire a 50 percent interest in the 325000-square-foot retail space parking garage and 318000 square feet of office space not occupied by AOL Time Warner said people familiar with the matter" AOL Time Warner will own its office space through a condominium structure Brad Pacheco a spokesman for Calpers confirmed the fund is looking at the property He declined to elaborate further The AOL Time Warner Complex is slated to open in fell 2003 About 60 percent of the retail space is leased and another 15 percent to 30 percent is close to contract Ross said About one-third of the non-AOL office ha been pro-leased and more than 40 percent of space hast By Harry Berkowitz STAFF WHITES Trying to avoid government rejection of their proposed merger the two giant satellite TV providers will propose the addition of new competitors to the industry EchoStar chairman Charles Ergen indicated yesterday But for Cablevision to become one of those competitors it would have to overcome an array of stumbling blocks said merger partner DirecTV chairman Eddy Hartenstein Those problems range from financial woes to the fact it is a cable company And there may be more credible candidates Hartenstein said Ergen and Hartenstein spoke at the Sky Forum satellite TV industry conference at the Waldorf-Astoria two days after they asked the Federal cations Commission to postpone a ruling until they can propose new remedies to problems the Justice Department sees with the merger "The structural change has to include new entrants in the Ergen said He acknowledged that with the 11 satellite frequencies Cablevision controls it could roach only about 50 to 60 percent of the nation and so could not compete at the level the government agencies might require Cablevision which is planning to launch a Lockheed-Martin broadcast satellite in March has asked the FCC to give it an extra 17 frequencies controlled by EchoStar and wants room on 3tar satellite so it can provide WnwriiMi iw Him Calpuis Bit larges! US pensloa fund may buy into tha $1 7-blllion AOL Tima Warner Cantor still undar construction the condos have been sold he said See SATELLITE on A57.