The CEO of Kobe Steel said Tuesday that he’s resigning from the Japanese company that shocked global businesses by admitting it falsified data about metal it supplied to manufacturers of planes, cars and other products.
Hiroya Kawasaki, who also holds the titles of chairman and president, said at a news conference in Tokyo that he would step down on April 1. Vice President Akira Kaneko will also resign, Kawasaki added.
Kobe, one of the world’s top steelmakers, said in October that its employees had faked reports to make it look as though some of its copper, aluminum and steel products met the specifications requested by customers, when in fact they didn’t.
Kobe’s products were supplied to top global manufacturers such as Boeing and Toyota.
The steelmaker has previously said the practice of falsifying product data went back as far as 10 years.
— Chie Kobayashi contributed to this report.
