OSAKA -- Kubota Corp. announced Thursday that its executives will resign on April 1 to take responsibility for a water pipe cartel scandal in which three of its officials have been indicted.
President Kohei Mitsui, who had denied he would step down, told a press conference at an Osaka hotel that he made the decision thinking it would be better for the company if it restarted under new executives as soon as possible.
Mitsui and current Chairman Shigekazu Mino will become advisers to the company while Yoshikuni Dobashi, an executive director, will become president. Dobashi, who will chair an in-house committee set up to prevent such incidents from occurring, said he would try hard to recover the public's trust and raise the confidence of his employees.
On March 1, prosecutors indicted three companies -- Kubota Corp., Kurimoto Ltd., and Nippon Chutetsukan K.K. -- and 10 of their officials on charges of forming a cartel in violation of the Antimonopoly Law. Kurimoto executives announced their resignations last week.