Mitsubishi faces criminal charges

Mitsubishi may face criminal charges

Japan's Transport Ministry may file a criminal complaint against Mitsubishi Motors as early as Thursday after the carmaker admitted a 30-year cover-up of customer complaints, a ministry official said.

The complaint would accuse Japan's fourth biggest carmaker of breaking the Road Trucking Vehicle Law although its precise terms had yet to be finalised, the ministry's automobile bureau director Katsuhiko Nawano said.

"The ministry is still trying to specify who actually was responsible for the cover-up," he said.

Mitsubishi Motors admitted last month that it had repaired individual vehicles itself following customer complaints instead of issuing model recalls.

Falsified reports

This may provide grounds for criminal charges, analysts have said.

According to Japanese media reports, the company may also be charged with falsifying regulatory reports on at least two occasions last year.

And financial penalties could be imposed by a district court for four cases in which recalls were - belatedly - conducted without proper regulatory notification, the reports said.

The news came as Mitsubishi Motors began final talks with its partner DaimlerChrysler about restructuring.

Increased stake

Earlier media reports had suggested this would entail the German-US carmaker increasing its stake in Mitsubishi Motors to around 40% from 34% and gaining a fourth seat on the board.

A renegotiated agreement between the two, that might also include the scrapping of a clause that protected Mitsubishi Motors' independence for 10 years, could come as early as this week.

Industry analysts speculated that DaimlerChrysler would refrain from buying more than a 40% stake because this could be seen under US accounting rules as taking direct control of the company.

In that scenario, DaimlerChrysler could then be forced to take responsibility for Mitsubishi Motors' debts of almost $14bn, the analysts said.