Dell accused of concealing evidence

Dell has been accused of withholding evidence as the computer giant defends claims it sold 11.8 million faulty PCs.

US hosting company Advanced Internet Technologies (AIT) filed a motion in a Californian court on Friday claiming that Dell failed to produce documents, some of which AIT claims were written by Dell's top executives, according to the New York Times.

The company wants Dell to produce emails between current CEO Michael Dell and former chief Kevin Rollins, and claims that what Dell has produced to date have been mere "snippets".

Dell has denied the accusation.

The documents are believed to reveal the two executives discussing problems it faced with "bulging capacitors" affecting the motherboards of its OptiPlex business desktops.

AIT alleges the faulty computers were sold between 2003 and 2004 and that it lost business as a result of the faults.

It has already produced documents showing mid-level Dell management discussing how to deal with the media fallout.

The model most affected by the faulty capacitors was the OptiPlex GX270, which was responsible for a US$300 million hit on the computer maker's 2005 earnings as a result of repairing the faulty motherboards, according to a report on CNet.