Fujitsu to brief on ex-chief's disputed departure

TOKYO, JAPAN: Fujitsu Ltd will hold a news conference next week to respond to allegations by a former president that he was forced to resign under false pretences in a legal dispute that has rattled Japan's largest IT services firm.

Fujitsu also announced that the former president, Kuniaki Nozoe, had withdrawn a court petition demanding that he be reinstated to the company's board.

The news conference will be Fujitsu's first since media reports surfaced in early March detailing Nozoe's allegations that he was pushed out of the president post last September due to suspected links to organized crime.

The allegations forced Fujitsu to revise its initial statement citing illness as the main reason Nozoe stepped down, a flip-flop that damaged its credibility in the eyes of some investors and triggered a verbal warning from the Tokyo bourse.

"The succession process, deciding who becomes president is a very important event. In the case of Fujitsu the process didn't work and that is a major problem," said Takeyuki Ishida, head of Japan research at proxy advisory firm RiskMetrics Group.

"Investors are in the dark and need clarity. The company needs to offer them a satisfactory explanation."

At a news conference this week, Nozoe threatened to sue two Fujitsu executives over his departure, which he claims caused damages to the company by hampering his attempts to sell Internet service subsidiary Nifty Corp to another firm.

Nozoe told the news conference that his goal in taking action against his former employer was to restore his honour and that he was not seeking a return to a management role at Fujitsu.

At the news conference Nozoe did not mention the petition seeking reinstatement, which had been filed to a Yokohama district court on March 15 and withdrawn on April 6 before a final ruling could be handed down.

Fujitsu said in a statement that it presented evidence to the court showing that it had done nothing illegal related to Nozoe's resignation.

The company said it would give its account of events at the news conference next week. It has not decided the day or who will attend.