Sources say the deal could be signed early next week. That is, if the US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, signs off on it.

According to the gossip mill, the government has recently been persuaded that former CA CEO Sanjay Kumar is more at fault than it thought - supposedly because CA's former house counsel Steven Woghin has been singing like a birdie to mitigate his own legal problems.

As a result, the authorities may go easier on the company and may not fine it the $400 million - $500 million it's been contemplating levying on the rogue organization.

The scuttlebutt claims that CA may now only have to forfeit $300 million - $400 million or maybe only $200 million - $300 million, if Ashcroft is feeling particularly indulgent that day.

Goodness only knows how all this, if true, will change how Kumar's expected indictment reads.

Sources claim it's already a pretty hefty tome of 100 pages and of course it could mean jail time.

Anyway, while the company sorts out its legal liabilities, it's already traded in one problem for another. Recent separate outside surveys have found that 30% of CA's customers in one case and 46% in another want to jump ship.

And the company is also being forced to head off defections by staff that hasn't been and isn't going to be indicted like Wai Wong, who ran CA's Unicenter unit, responsible for 43% of CA's revenues.

He just jumped to BEA, where he will head its product division reporting to BEA CEO Alfred Chuang. He will be responsible for the planning, integration and delivery of BEA's widgetry and will be one of the BEA Executive Leadership Team.

He was at CA for 16 years.