Bengaluru/Tokyo — Kobe Steel is under investigation by Japanese authorities over its data tampering, widening a scandal that undermined faith in Japan’s industrial sector last year. Kobe Steel said on Wednesday that "investigating authorities" were conducting an inquiry, without elaborating on who was carrying out the probe or what was being investigated. It said it was co-operating with the investigation. A company spokesman confirmed that the investigation concerned the data tampering but declined to say when the probe had started. Earlier, the Nikkei newspaper reported that the special investigative unit of the Tokyo district public prosecutor’s office had already subpoenaed documents from Kobe and that it suspected the company, Japan’s third-largest steel maker, of criminally misrepresenting data. The Kobe Steel spokesman declined to comment on the Nikkei report. The Tokyo district public prosecutor’s office and the Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment on the Nikke...
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