Four Kobe Steel Ltd. shareholders agreed Friday to settle a suit against the company on condition that six former executives and a corporate racketeer pay a total of 310 million yen to the company in compensation for damages caused from a payoff scandal in the 1990s.
The shareholders filed the damages suit against seven former executives of Kobe Steel and the racketeer at the Kobe District Court, demanding that about 390 million yen be repaid to the company.
In recommending the settlement, presiding Judge Akinori Ueda, in a rare move, expressed his opinion on the case, saying, "Top executives of a company cannot avoid responsibility by simply making the excuse that they did not know (about the wrongdoings of their subordinates)."
The six former executives accepted the settlement and are expected to pay compensation to the company along with Sokichi Kametaka, a former chairman of Kobe Steel. Kametaka has accepted full responsibility for compensating the firm.