Miniscribe Must Rebuild

An internal investigation at Miniscribe has concluded that senior administrators at the Colorado-based disk drive manufacturer committed massive fraud on the company, its directors, its outside auditors, and its shareholders during 1986, 1987, and 1988.

According to the investigation, company officials altered inventory reports, reshipped defective drives, and even shipped bricks to distributors so that Miniscribe would appear in better financial health than its competitors.

Miniscribe chairperson Q. T. Wiles has resigned, and some top officials were dismissed. The company is trying to reconstruct accurate financial reports as it develops new control and planning systems, said Director of Strategy and Planning Gerard Hallaren.

"We are doing a lot in the area of corporate governance and ethics," he said. "And we're working on a new financial structure."

A year from now, Hallaren said, the company will have recovered from the blow. "We'll have some pretty hot products, but I think we'll face a lot of tough challenges in the meantime, and I think we'll win."

—HEIDI E. H. AYCOCK