Team formed to probe Modi Xerox issue

A high-level government probe has found Xerox Modicorp, a subsidiary of US-based Xerox Inc, guilty of making "improper payments" for procuring sales both from the government and private parties, and ordered the formation of an inter-agency group, including CBI, to determine the future course of action.

The investigation against the company was ordered in 2002 after Xerox Inc admitted in a submission with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that its Indian subsidiaries had made improper payments, estimated to the tune of Rs 3-3.5 crore, to get government orders.

The investigation found the Indian subsidiary, including its directors at that time, in "prima-facie violation" of various provisions of the Companies Act, including Section 211 "for not showing true and fair view of the profit and loss account and state of affairs during the relevant financial years," sources in the department of company affairs said.

"The government is in the process of forming an inter-departmental group, involving various departments/agencies like revenue, CBI and law to determine the course of action in respect of the prima facie violations," they added.

The probe found that the company had engaged in "illegal gratification" of government officials and corrupt practices to procure orders from government departments and entities in violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, they said.

Also, it was found that the company and its officials were engaged in deliberate destruction of evidences against the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.