When shareholders sue TEPCO

March 5, 2012

TEPCO managers sued for 5.5 tril. yen

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120305_27.html

A group of shareholders in Tokyo Electric Power Company has sued former and current executives of the utility, seeking 5.5 trillion yen, or nearly 68 billion dollars, in damages over the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The group of 42 individual shareholders filed the lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday against 27 people who have held senior executive posts at TEPCO since 2002.

That was the year a government panel warned that a major earthquake could strike the area in which the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located.

The shareholders argue that the utility failed to heed the warning and took no measures to protect the plant from tsunami and earthquakes.

The shareholders say they calculated the amount of the damages based on a report by a third-party panel that looked into the utility's management since the accident.

They are asking the firm to use the winnings to compensate those affected by the accident.

A lawyer for the group says Japan's corporate culture will not change unless individual senior executives are held accountable for problems.

He also says the shareholders want to correct what they call a system of collective irresponsibility in the nuclear-power industry.

Tokyo Electric has declined to comment. The utility is projected to post a net loss of 8.6 billion dollars for the business year through March.