The ex-president of a scandal-hit unit of Mitsubishi Materials Corp. will step down as adviser only a month since assuming the post after he resigned from his former job for ordering a data falsification cover-up.
Mutsumi Yasutake, the former chief of auto parts manufacturer Diamet Corp., will quit the job as he completes "the process of handing over information about the data quality issue," a Mitsubishi Materials spokesman said.
Yasutake assumed the part-time advisory post on April 1, a move that fueled criticism toward the company. But he will resign at the end of the month and become a contract employee, the spokesman said, though no details have been disclosed on his new job.
He resigned as president in February when the scandal became public but remained a Diamet board member until the end of March, where he then stepped down to take responsibility for the cover-up as well as the continued shipping of inferior quality products.
Yasutake ordered subordinates to continue shipping products that did not meet specifications, even after the company's long-running data falsification issue came to light internally.
Diamet — one of Mitsubishi Materials group companies involved in the data falsification scandal — had explained that Yasutake had been appointed as adviser to deal with clients and other matters as he "understands very well the background" of the data scandal that dates back to the late 1970s.