Osaka, Jan. 12 (Jiji Press)–Panasonic Industry Co. said Friday that irregularities have been found in the process of third-party certification for 52 of its product types, including a resin material used for auto parts and home appliances.
The Panasonic Holdings Corp. unit said it had manufactured some such items using constituents different from certified product constituents and altered data submitted for performance tests for the certification.
The irregularities were confirmed during inspections in November at a total of seven plants in Japan, China and elsewhere, Panasonic Industry said. Some of the wrongdoings started in the 1980s.
Panasonic Industry established Friday an outside committee of two lawyers and a university professor to investigate the scandal.
Panasonic Holdings Group CEO Yuki Kusumi pledged to look into the matter thoroughly and remove the corruption. The Panasonic group will conduct an internal probe to confirm whether similar irregularities took place at other units, he said.
