Mitsubishi Electric's CEO said he will step right down to take responsibility for "three decades of systematic deceit" during which the japanese firm falsified inspection data for air conditioners and brake compressors utilized in trains.
The admission by Mitsubishi, whose products range from air conditioners and vacuum cleaners to industrial printers and satellites, further dents Japan's reputation for high-quality manufacturing, already tarnished by other cases of companies falsifying or covering up test data.
"I am shocked by this," Takeshi Sugiyama told a press conference , at which he apologised for the falsification and promised to appoint a successor as early as this month once he had helped coordinate the company's response to the matter.
Sugiyama, who became CEO in 2018 and has been with Mitsubishi for quite four decades, said on Friday he regretted not informing shareholders at its annual meeting on Saints Peter and Paul .
Mitsubishi management was conscious of the air conditioning data problem fortnight before and knew about the compressor falsifications the day before shareholders met, but chose to not release the knowledge until June 30, he said.
The latest corporate scandal comes amid heightened concern over corporate governance in Japan after an investigation found managers at Toshiba Corp, another well-established conglomerates, had colluded with the trade ministry to pressure foreign shareholders.
Japan's economy and trade minister, Hiroshi Kajiyama, said earlier that the govt would act if it found that Mitsubishi had broken any laws or regulations.
Mitsubishi said the equipment furnished with falsified inspection data posed no safety risk, and although it breached contracts with customers, didn't break any laws.
The company said it might release a full report in September, alongside measures to affect the matter .
In the 35 years that Mitsubishi falsified inspection data, it supplied 84,600 air con units to 80 rail companies.
It said it shipped 1,500 compressors, utilized in train brakes and doors, including in Japan's high-speed bullet trains, to twenty mostly domestic companies.
