Toshiba chief resigns over accounting scandal

Baku. 21 July. REPORT.AZ/ Hisao Tanaka, Toshiba's chief executive, and his predecessor, the company’s vice-chairman, are among a swath of senior staff who are resigning after an investigative panel said executives were involved in a 1,2 billion USD accounting scandal over seven years.

Report informs, Masashi Muromachi, Toshiba’s chairman, will take over as interim chief executive as the company looks to restore investor confidence by overhauling its governance structure.

A panel of external lawyers and accountants said on Monday there was a “systematic” and “deliberate” attempt to inflate profit figures amid a corporate culture in which employees were afraid to speak out against bosses’ pushes for unrealistic earnings targets.

Mr Tanaka said at a news conference, following a 15-second bow of contrition, that he “felt the need to carry out a major overhaul in our management team in order to build anew our company”.

“We have suffered what could be the biggest erosion of our brand image in our 140-year history,” he said, adding that Mr Muromachi’s appointment as chief executive was a “temporary measure”.