SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY : Question Raised About Phoenix Deal to Sell Computers to Soviet Union

Does Phoenix Group International have a firm deal to sell six million personal computers to the Soviet Union or not?

That question was raised last week after an official of a Phoenix subsidiary disclosed in a signed declaration filed as part of a lawsuit that the company does not have a contract to sell six million PCs to the Soviets.

But an official of Irvine-based Phoenix said Monday that the Soviet deal is going ahead as planned.

On Sept. 11, Soviet officials and Phoenix announced the formation of a joint venture to provide up to six million PCs to Soviet schools and other buyers. According to a sworn statement dated Dec. 5 by John French, president of Phoenix subsidiary American PC Corp. in Irvine, neither company has “ever received a contractual commitment pursuant to which they are entitled to sell six million personal computers--or any number of personal computers of that magnitude--to the Soviet Union or elsewhere.”

French’s statement was made in connection with a lawsuit filed in November against Phoenix by Michael Kolsy, American PC’s chairman. Kolsy alleges in the suit filed in Orange County Superior Court that Phoenix illegally tried to dilute his one-third ownership interest in American PC in a debt-for-stock conversion. A Phoenix official last week called the suit “frivolous and without merit.”

Bruce Rossiter, Phoenix’s executive vice president for legal affairs, said that French’s statement, though technically accurate, “does not necessarily reflect the variety of relationships being developed with the Soviets.”

Rossiter said Phoenix has shipped only several dozen PCs to the Soviets. That is far fewer than the 12,000 computers Phoenix originally said it planned to ship to the Soviets by the end of 1989.

He said Phoenix “still feels comfortable” with the estimate that the joint venture will eventually provide six million PCs to the Soviet Union.