After Toshiba began legal action against five former employees (Toshiba Sues Former Executives), fifty individual shareholders have sued the Japanese company. They are seeking almost ¥302 million ($2.5 million) in damages, following the firm’s accounting problems (Toshiba CEO Resigns Over Accounting Scandal).
The shareholders are also bringing the suit to bear against five executives: three former CEOs and two former CFOs, according to Reuters. Lawyers representing the individuals said that around 40 more shareholders are planning to sue Toshiba this month, and warned that there will be more lawsuits from across Japan.
“The total number of plaintiffs is expected to come to around 1,000 eventually”, said one of the lawyers at a briefing after the filing.
In a separate article, Reuters quotes Kiyotaka Sasaki, secretary general at the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) – the Japanese watchdog. Kiyotaka said that the new US-style board of Toshiba “failed to function” as intended. He also said that Toshiba could face a steep fine as a result of its accounting troubles: up to ¥7.37 billion ($60.7 billion).
