Improper conduct in the yy易游体育官网

At this time, we deeply apologize for the enormous amount of trouble we have caused to customers, suppliers, shareholders and many others concerning the improper conduct in yy易游体育官网 Steel, Ltd. and its group companies,

The yy易游体育官网 discovered improper conduct in its Aluminum & Copper Business at the end of August (announced on October 8, 2017). In September 2017, Kobe Steel undertook self-investigations in its business units and an emergency audit by the head office for the one-year period covering September 2016 to August 2017. Excluding four additional cases of possible improper conduct (coating service in the Machinery Business of Kobe Steel; castings and speed reducers in the Shinko Engineering Co., Ltd.; outside sales of a prototype alloy in the Target Division of Kobelco Research Institute, Inc.; and one item that needs confirmation on whether improper conduct took place) found on October 25, we have largely completed the self-investigations. (Supplement 1).

In parallel with the subject self-investigations and emergency audit, yy易游体育官网 Steel, with the cooperation of its customers, conducted investigations on the safety of customers’ products that used the nonconforming products. Today, yy易游体育官网 Steel reports on the verification status of safety and the establishment of an independent investigation committee.

In order to complete the safety verification at an early time, yy易游体育官网 Steel will whole-heartedly devote itself to cooperating with its customers in the verification.

After the occurrence of the improper conduct in the yy易游体育官网, Kobe Steel established the Quality Investigation Committee (with Kobe Steel’s Chairman, President and CEO Hiroya Kawasaki as the Chairman of the Committee) within the company. Self-investigation, an emergency audit by the head office, and an investigation of the facts pertaining to the improper conduct by an outside law firm were undertaken.

The self-yy易游体育官网vestigation, emergency audit and yy易游体育官网vestigation of the facts were nearly completed on October 25. yy易游体育官网 the future, considerations will begyy易游体育官网 on the appropriateness of the methods, content and other factors yy易游体育官网 the self-yy易游体育官网vestigation and audit undertaken to date and the suitability of reverification; a thorough yy易游体育官网vestigation of the causes of the improper conduct; and measures to prevent recurrence. (Although not a direct cause, this yy易游体育官网cludes such reasons as corporate culture, compliance, and issues of the organizational management system.)

In proceeding with reverification and other issues, due to the non-compliance with reporting directives during the self-investigation process, from the standpoint of the need to maintain objectivity and independence, yy易游体育官网 Steel established on October 26 an independent investigation committee consisting only of outside members.

The members of the independent investigation committee have had no involvement with the investigation to date, and by selecting lawyers that have no interests with yy易游体育官网 Steel, objectivity and independence of the investigation are maintained.

＊Items discovered yy易游体育官网 self-yy易游体育官网vestigations　　• Items discovered outside of self-yy易游体育官网vestigations