Prosecutors and police on Tuesday searched the Tokyo headquarters and related sites of Kobe Steel Ltd. over the quality data fabrication scandal that has rocked the Japanese manufacturing industry.
The investigative authorities believe the company violated a law that prevents unfair competition by systematically misrepresenting its products.
In addition to the Tokyo head office, the authorities raided the company's headquarters in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, and three manufacturing plants.
(Kobe Steel CEO Hiroya Kawasaki bows in apology in October 2017)
"We are dealing seriously with the investigation," said a public relations official of the company.
Kobe Steel has admitted to falsifying inspection data for aluminum and copper products, which have been supplied to over 600 companies at home and abroad, and used in cars, aircraft, space rockets and defense equipment.
Sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday the data falsification continued at a plant even after the plant chief who became aware of the practice told workers to stop it.
From around 2009 to 2011, the then chief of Daian Works in Inabe, Mie Prefecture, summoned the deputy chief and personnel in charge of quality control and other departments and instructed them to halt the fabrication of data.
However, the malpractice continued even after the event with the plant chief appearing to turn a blind eye.
According to the company's final report on the scandal, released in March, the steelmaker altered data on strength and other aspects at 23 domestic and overseas plants to make its products appear as if they met client specifications.
The report also determined that the plant
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chief at the Daian Works and his successor were aware of the improper practice.
Kobe Steel said about 40 employees were involved in the irregularities, including former board members. Data had been fabricated since around the 1970s at its plant in Tochigi Prefecture, according to the company.
The prosecutors had already begun a probe into the fabrication of Kobe Steel's quality data, on a voluntary basis, but judged that the search was necessary to back up the claimed misconduct.
Major Japanese carmakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have said they used Kobe Steel products in their vehicles. Affected products have also been used by Central Japan Railway Co. for shinkansen bullet trains and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for Mitsubishi Regional Jet passenger planes.
The companies have said the falsified data do not pose safety issues for the products.
The U.S. Justice Department has separately launched a probe into the case, asking the Japanese steelmaker to submit documents linked to the scandal.
Customers in the United States and Canada have filed class action lawsuits seeking compensation for the use of substandard products manufactured by the company.
