Kobe Steel Ltd., at the center of a data-falsification scandal that has shaken Japan's manufacturing industry, admitted for the first time that executives had been aware of the tampering and reassigned three senior officials.
Japan's No.3 steel-maker, which supplies the manufacturers of cars, planes and trains across the world, has said about 500 customers received products with falsified specifications, throwing global supply chains into turmoil.
External investigators appointed by Kobe Steel to look into the malpractice have found that senior officials in the company's copper and aluminium business knew of some of the malpractice.