As expected, Hiroya Kawasaki resigned as the CEO, president and chairman of Kobe Steel Ltd. and Akira Kaneko stepped down as the company's executive vice president over a data fabrication scandal that affected some of Japan's biggest automakers and bullet train operators.
The company has not yet named Kawasaki's successor.
The resignations will be effective April 1, when Kawasaki and Kaneko will become Kobe directors but without the authority to represent the company. Both executives will step down from Kobe's board at the annual general meeting scheduled for late June.
The scandal, which broke out in October 2017 and involved quality control lapses resulting in Kobe supplying substandard metal to over 500 companies, revealed falsification of data in Kobe's steel and machinery divisions as well as attempts to cover up problems at some of Kobe's production sites. In 2016 Kobe Steel affiliate Shinko Wire Stainless was also found to have falsified quality data, and the unit lost its Japanese Industrial Standards certification for steel wire used to make springs.
Kobe dismissed managing executive officers Takumi Fujii and Nobuaki Isono, effective immediately. Yutaka Masuno, the president, CEO and representative director of Kobe's Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube Ltd., and Hiroyuki Ando, the president and representative director of Shinko Metal Products Co. Ltd. were also dismissed, effective April 1.
The steel manufacturer slashed Executive Officer Seiji Hirata's remuneration by 80% for four months. All remaining directors, excluding independent directors and those who are members of the audit and supervisory committee, will have a 10% to 50% reduction of their basic pay for a period ranging from one to four months.
Additionally, Kobe Steel will ask one former director and one former executive officer to voluntarily return a portion of the remuneration they received while they were executives at the company.
