Toshiba president, top executives quit over US$1.2 billion accounting scandal

The president of Toshiba and seven other high-level executives and directors resigned on Tuesday over a US$1.2 billion accounting scandal blamed on management’s overzealous pursuit of profit that has battered one of Japan’s best-known firms.

Hisao Tanaka and vice-chairman Norio Sasaki – also a former company president – stepped down after an independent report found senior management complicit in a years-long scheme to pad profits.

In a stinging indictment, the report said managers had “systematically” inflated profits over several years.

“It has been revealed that there has been inappropriate accounting going on for a long time, and we deeply apologise for causing this serious trouble for shareholders and other stakeholders,” the company said in a statement. “Because of this Hisao Tanaka, our company president, and Norio Sasaki, our company’s vice-chairman … will resign today.”

Tanaka, 64, and Sasaki, 66, both joined Toshiba in the early 1970s.

Sasaki served as Toshiba president between June 2009 and June 2013, covering most of the period during which the company inflated the profits.

Chairman Masashi Muromachi would take over as president, the company said.