More Toyo Tire employees involved in scandal

Toyo Tire & Rubber Co officials said Tuesday that at least nine more employees were aware of a data falsification scandal that came to light in March.

Initially, the company blamed the scandal on four product development employees, but an internal investigation has revealed that at least nine higher-level supervisors in different departments knew about the data manipulation, Fuji TV reported.

Toyo says that at least 154 buildings have been provided with faulty earthquake-absorbing rubber materials since 1996. The buildings involved include hospitals, schools, office buildings and housing complexes, as well as the company's headquarters in Itami, Toyo Tire said.

An initial investigation in March revealed that Toyo Tire had provided 55 buildings with defective shock-absorption products. That number has now risen to 154 buildings in 25 prefectures, including Aichi (13), Shizuoka (12) and Kochi (11) prefectures, as well as 11 buildings in Tokyo and the Osaka City Central Public Hall.

Officials have also confirmed that nine buildings for which data no longer exists, cannot be evaluated as part of the investigation.

The infrastructure ministry has ordered the company to carry out safety inspections in all buildings where it supplied quake shock absorbers.

So far, no criminal charges have been filed against the company, but Toyo said Tuesday that its president, chairman and a director will step down to take responsibility for the scandal, Fuji reported.

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