TOKYO: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. President Takeshi Sugiyama said Friday that he will resign to take the blame for the company’s fraudulent inspections for products including air conditioning equipment for train cars.

The company set up an emergency task force the same day to investigate details of the misconduct, planning to announce the results and measures to prevent similar malpractice in September.

“I’m very sorry for the misconduct and want to offer a deep apology,” Sugiyama said at the beginning of the company’s first press conference about the scandal, held at its head office in Tokyo. The irregularities came to light late last month. “We have no choice but to admit that it was systematic misconduct,” he said.

At its plant in the town of Togitsu, Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, Mitsubishi Electric had conducted performance inspections for train air conditioners under conditions different from those required by clients. The misconduct had been carried out for some 35 years since around 1985.

Improper inspections were conducted also for air compressors used to operate brakes, and open and close doors of trains.

The air conditioner test problem was discovered on June 14 through an in-house survey, and the air compressor inspection fraud was found on Monday.

But the company did not explain the issues at all at its annual general shareholders’ meeting Tuesday, coming under fire over its inappropriate information disclosure.

JIJI Press