was indicted yesterday in the corporate scandal resulting from secret tapes that allegedly caught company officers plotting to destroy evidence in a race-discrimination suit.

Ulrich, a retired Texaco treasurer, was charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy in federal court in White Plains, a suburb north of New York City.

On tapes that were made public last year by former Texaco executive Richard Lundwall, Lundwall and Ulrich allegedly talked about throwing away or shredding documents requested by plaintiffs in a civil suit that alleged discrimination in hiring and promotion at Texaco.

"We're going to purge the (expletive) out of these books,'' Ulrich said, according to Texaco's transcript.

The conspiracy charge was also brought against Lundwall, who had previously been charged with obstruction of justice. Lundwall has pleaded innocent to the charge.

Jonathan Rosner, an attorney for Ulrich, was out of his Manhattan office today. He said last month that indicting Ulrich "would be an outrage.'' The release of the tapes, in which the executives also allegedly belittled black employees, became a national embarrassment for Texaco, which endured a boycott before settling the suit last November for an estimated $176 million.

Lundwall, who had secretly made the tapes at meetings in 1994, was indicted in March. He is quoted in the transcript as saying about one document, "Let me shred this thing.'' His lawyers had complained that the only person charged was the one who came forward with the tapes.

Lundwall presented the tapes to the plaintiffs in the civil case after he lost his job at Texaco in a round of corporate cutbacks.

His lawyers had demanded that Texaco turn over the final report on its own investigation into the tape scandal.

Access to the report, by outside lawyer Michael Armstrong, has long been a bone of contention.

Lundwall's attorney, Ethan Levin-Epstein, said Thursday that he subpoenaed the Armstrong report because "it's material to the preparation of our case. ...

It's certainly an important document.'' Lundwall's previous defence attorney, Christopher Riley, had called the report "the key prosecutorial document.'' Negotiations toward a plea bargain collapsed when prosecutors refused to allow Lundwall to see the Armstrong report, his lawyers said.

Texaco has moved to quash the subpoena, saying it wants to cooperate with the federal government's request that the report not be released. The government joined in Texaco's motion, calling the subpoena a "fishing expedition'' that fails to demonstrate the report is admissible evidence.

The subpoena also seeks Armstrong's notes and any witness statements or other documents that were obtained or consulted in preparing the report. While not wanting to release the completed report, Texaco said it was willing to make available any Texaco documents reviewed by Armstrong.

The subpoena also seeks any documents pertaining to scientific tests conducted on the tapes themselves. Texaco did not contest that request. Armstrong has already released the results of an enhancement of the tapes, which he said refuted reports one executive had used a racial epithet.

DISCRIMINATION DIS