Mitsubishi Ethics Issue
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We will keep track of news related to ethics issue concerning Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus and MMC.
Ethical Concerns and Issues re Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso
A few comments from Mitsubishi Recalls in Japan section and other places:
May 6, 2004. Yoko Masuda, victim Shiho Okamoto's mother, held a press conference, blaming Mitsubishi Motors for her daughter Shiho Okamoto's "murder." She said that it was murder by the company as a whole and she would never forgive it as long as she lived. She urged the company to tell the truth and apologize sincerely from the bottom of their hearts. Nobuteru Ishihara, Japan's Transport Minister, was furious, and saying that Mitsubishi has done similar things in past, called it "very evil" and mentioned "malicious intent" behind not wanting to recall the trucks.
Asahi Shimbun quoted Masato Nakamura, a product liability lawyer as "Mitsubishi had not learned a lesson from the earlier cover-up scandal. "I suspect the automaker had a corporate tradition of betraying consumers."
"Whenever something goes wrong with their cars, customers suspect a defect cover-up. I feel like I'm sitting on a bed of thorns." - A Mitsubishi Motors dealer's representative [Asahi]
"One of the problems is not necessarily their PR but the corporate culture of these companies. I think some do not tell the truth from the very beginning. Even if the PR section knows, they are not allowed to tell. These problems keep growing until the police come into the picture. Then suddenly they want their agencies or in-house PR sections to go ahead with counteractive PR measures." - Sakae Ohashi, President and CEO, Kyodo Public Relations, in a Japan Today interview commenting on corporations in general.
"It is simply too horrible that for years and years reported defects were shrugged off and squelched. The problem has highlighted the worst in corporate governance at Japan's top companies. International credibility has been lost not only at Mitsubishi but at all Japanese companies." - Takashi Nomura, professor of public policy at Tokushima Bunri University.
June 3, 2004. Tokyo. Asahi wrote that Noboru Matsuda, governor of government-backed Deposit Insurance Corp will be asked to head a new ethics committee within MMC. He is due to retire on June 23. Matsuda played an important role in investigating the Lockheed bribery scandal in 1976, pursuading former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka to voluntarily present himself for questioning for his role in the scandal. Later, as head of a special investigation squad at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, Matsuda investigated the shares-for-influence scandal of information service company Recruit scandal, implicating many politicians and senior bureaucrats.
July 17, 2004. MMC has decided on outside experts for its Business Ethics Committee. They are Konoe Kawagishi, former vice chairman of the editorial committee at the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper; Takahiro Fujimoto, professor of the University of Tokyo; Kazuko Miyamoto, head of consumer research at the Nippon Association of Consumer Specialists; and lawyer Kazuo Mura. (Kyodo News)
A few older stories in reverse chronological order (Newer ones first)
New Restructuring Plan Revised soon after announcement because of poor sales and new recall scandals.New Restructuring Plan Details
Daimler Chrysler Decides to Quit Mitsubishi Motors' Resue Plan