From The Japan Times Online:

MMC looks to sue ex-execs over defect coverup scandal

By TAIGA URANAKA
Staff writer

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Wednesday it will sue seven former senior executives of the firm for a combined 1.3 billion yen in damages over defect coverups that caused two fatalities unless the seven voluntarily agree to pay the amount.

It is rare for a Japanese company to seek individual damages from its former top management.

Four of the seven former executives, including one ex-president, are now on trial for professional negligence resulting in death in connection with the fatal accidents.

MMC said it is trying to demonstrate its resolve to break free of its scandal-plagued past.

"We have made a difficult decision (that is) necessary for us to make a step forward," MMC President Osamu Masuko told a news conference.

Among the seven are former Presidents Hirokazu Nakamura, Takemune Kimura and Katsuhiko Kawasoe.

Nakamura and Kimura bear "'responsibilities as top management for failing to establish a compliance system to file for necessary recalls" for the vehicle defects, MMC said.

Nakamura was president between 1989 and 1995, Kimura was chief between 1996 and 1997 and Kawasoe served as president from 1997 to 2000.

MMC said Kawasoe is to blame for improperly handling the defect coverup, which was revealed in 2000.

Kawasoe has been indicted and is currently on trial for professional negligence resulting in death in connection with a fatal accident involving a defective truck in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 2002.

The total damages MMC will seek from the seven are equivalent to the total retirement bonuses they received.

MMC said it will also ask 10 other former senior officials to surrender part of their retirement bonuses.

Masuko, who took the helm in January, said MMC has changed.

"The firm's attitude is fundamentally different from what it was back in 2000," he said.

MMC's sales have been battered by the ongoing defect coverup. The latest scandal broke last year. But Masuko said that domestic sales are likely to exceed the target of 220,000 units set for the fiscal year that ends Thursday.

The original article can be found here.

Now if we can just get Mitsubishi to do something about that way too tippy Montero SUV we'd be getting somewhere.

-- MDT