Mitsui & Co. said Friday two employees at the trading house and another at a subsidiary will be fired for fabricating test data to obtain official approval for a diesel particulate filter.
The DPF-manufacturing subsidiary, PUREarth Inc., will also dismiss and file a criminal complaint against another employee for allegedly embezzling. Mitsui said it will also dismiss and file a criminal complaint against a former vice presidents who is suspected of being involved in both the data fabrication and embezzlement.
The company announced the course of disciplinary action after conducting an in-house investigation into the DPF data fabrication and embezzlement scandals for more than one month.
It said its management will take the blame in some manner for failing to prevent the data fabrication scandal.
Mitsui earlier said it submitted the fabricated data in 2002 to obtain approval for the device to remove particulate matter from diesel engine exhaust and meet clean-air standards set by Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures.
In late November, the company offered to replace PUREarth DPFs with new ones free of charge or reimburse purchasers of PUREarth DPFs and repay subsidies on these devices to the central and local governments.