WHITE PLAINS, New York (AP) -- The retired Texaco executive whose clandestine tape recordings forced a settlement of a race discrimination suit against the oil company pleaded innocent yesterday to a charge of obstruction of justice.

"I'll be vindicated,'' Richard Lundwall said after his brief appearance before a federal magistrate. "I think innocence will be proven.'' An indictment said Lundwall, 55, of Danbury, Connecticut, and other company officers "decided and agreed to withhold, conceal and destroy'' evidence that was sought by plaintiffs in the race case.

His attorney, Christopher Riley, said the defence would be "vigorous'' but refused to elaborate.

On Tuesday, a federal judge was told there were no objections to a proposed $176 million settlement of the racial discrimination suit in which Lundwall's tapes played a pivotal role.

Lundwall turned the race suit into a national embarrassment for Texaco when he gave the plaintiffs secret recordings of meetings at which he and other Texaco executives schemed to destroy the evidence. Executives also were heard on the tape belittling black employees.

Asked yesterday how he felt about being the only one charged in the scandal, he said: "Do I think it's unfair? Sure I do. Of course I do.'' He said last week he never imagined the tapes would be used against him.

"It was like somebody was playing a terrible joke,'' he said. "I told my lawyers, `I will sell everything I have to go to trial if I have to, because this is just insanely unfair.''' Soon after excerpts of the tapes were published, Texaco was threatened with a boycott and agreed to pay $176 million to settle.

Of that, $115 million is to be paid to salaried black employees. Each of the 1,348 past and current workers covered will get a minimum of $2,000, with an average payout of more than $60,000, depending on how long they worked for Texaco. The plaintiffs who started the suit would get as much as $200,000 extra for their efforts.

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