Mitsubishi Electric CEO resigns amid testing scandal
4th July 2021
JAPAN: Mitsubishi Electric president and CEO Takeshi Sugiyama said he will resign after the company admitted falsifying tests on train air conditioning systems for possibly 30 years.
Reports from Japan say that the Mitsubishi Electric factory in Nagasaki conducted tests under its own specifications, fabricating test certificates based on the results of an earlier test conducted as specified by clients.
The fraudulent inspections were conducted between at least around 1985 and 2020, according to Mitsubishi Electric.
Reports in the Japan Times say the scandal may have affected up to 84,600 train air conditioners. Of these, 68,800 units were for Japanese railway operators and 15,800 were for export. The fraudulent inspections are also said to have affected up to 1,000 air compressor units for brakes and other train parts.
Takeshi Sugiyama became CEO in 2018 and has been with Mitsubishi Electric for more than 40 years.
Mitsubishi Electric established an emergency response office after the scandal was revealed on June 30. The company says it will investigate the facts of inappropriate cases, investigating the root cause, formulate measures to prevent recurrence, and implement quality culture reforms.
Mitsubishi maintains that the equipment supplied with falsified data does not pose any safety risk, and promised to release a full report in September.
