Japan lawmakers urge bourse, regulators to be tough on Toshiba
Japanese lawmakers on Wednesday called for a tough regulatory response to Toshiba Corp's second postponement of its annual results over accounting woes, saying the scandal could erode foreign investor confidence.
Regulators are likely to penalise the laptop-to-nuclear power conglomerate with a fine after an independent probe found that the company had overstated past results by $1.2 billion over several years, sources familiar with matter have said.
Japan's regulators are, however, often perceived as softer than Western counterparts when punishing corporate misdeeds."The scandal is a severe problem that could lead to a loss of credibility from foreign investors", Masahiko Shibayama, head of the Liberal Democratic Party's treasury and finance division, told reporters after a meeting of lawmakers and regulators.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange would consider putting Toshiba's shares on a watchlist for possible delisting if there were further delays in reporting results, Shibayama quoted a bourse official as saying in the meeting.
Forced delistings are, however, rare. Kazuhiko Toyama, who advised the government on new corporate governance guidelines that seek to improve shareholder returns, said a delisting would not be the answer.
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