Toshiba Corp. will likely seek more than ¥1 billion in total from five former executives in a damages suit filed by the company to hold them accountable for negligence that led to an accounting scandal, sources said.
The amount is more than triple the ¥300 million being sought by the industrial conglomerate in its damages suit filed in November with the Tokyo District Court against the five — three former presidents and two former chief financial officers.
Toshiba said Monday it will increase the amount without giving details, as the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended to the Financial Services Agency that it slap a record ¥7.37 billion fine on the company for falsifying financial reports.
The maker of products ranging from chips, personal computers and nuclear reactors is expected to finalize the amount after the FSA formally imposes a fine.
The sources said how much each of the five will pay may depend on the degree of their involvement in the scandal.
The five are former Presidents Hisao Tanaka, Norio Sasaki and Atsutoshi Nishida, and former CFOs Fumio Muraoka and Makoto Kubo.
Toshiba's audit committee, made up of outside directors, has been looking into improper accounting practices that spanned nearly seven years and trying to identify how much each should be held responsible.
In September, Toshiba revised downward its profits from April 2008 to December 2014, saying they were inflated by ¥224.8 billion on a pretax basis in total.
An independent investigation panel criticized the company's management for putting excessive pressure on subordinates to achieve ambitious profits, and its corporate culture.
A group of Toshiba shareholders Monday sued the five former executives, seeking roughly ¥300 million in damages for the losses incurred after the accounting scandal sent the company's stock price sharply lower.