Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Thursday it will penalize 10 more current and former executives over an inspection cheating scandal, bringing the number of those responsible for failing to prevent decades-long misconduct to 22 after an independent panel conducted a probe for more than a year.

The panel of outside experts concluded in a final report that a total of 197 cases of misconduct at 17 of its 22 bases in Japan were found. The most recent incident continued up until August, it said.

Mitsubishi Electric said it will reduce monthly pay for some current company executives and ask some who have already retired to return part of their remuneration. It had previously said that 12 officials would be subject to such a penalty.

President Kei Uruma, one of the penalized executives, apologized for the cheating scandal at a press conference, saying, "We will take this as a profound lesson and do our utmost to prevent a recurrence."

The data fraud scandal at one of Japan's biggest electronics makers came to light in June last year when the company was found to have cheated on inspections for train-use equipment for at least 35 years.

The misconduct involved a range of products, from train-use air conditioners to electric switchboards, affecting many customers, including government agencies, electric companies and railway operators.

Among the 197 cases of misconduct identified, 112 were found to be intentional, alongside 85 unintentional lapses, the panel said, adding that 62 cases involved management staff.

The panel pointed to a company atmosphere in which employees felt hesitant to say no to their bosses and clients while also identifying a corporate culture that sometimes sought to justify improper practices through the belief that their products were appropriate for sale without proper inspection.

"There was a lack of a sense of guilt among many employees," Hiroshi Kimeda, head of the panel, told another press conference. "Some people felt they were just correcting errors."

The panel investigation also found former chairman Masaki Sakuyama was involved in the wrongdoing in the 1990s but added that it found no evidence of a company-wide conspiracy to cheat.

The company said Sakuyama, who resigned from his chairman role last year to take responsibility for the scandal, will step down from his current position of senior advisor. Takeshi Sugiyama, then-president, also resigned last year.

Among the 10 newly added to the penalty list, incumbent executives will have their monthly salary reduced by 20 to 30 percent for the next three months. Those who have already left will be asked to return 20 to 30 percent of their past monthly salary for the same period.

==Kyodo

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