TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - The head of Japan's Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp said the recall of about 190,000 trucks and buses announced on Thursday should have been issued in 1996 and he blamed the company's corporate culture of concealment for the delay.
"I personally feel strong anger with the fact that a critical issue like the clutch-housing failure was untouched until today, neglecting company responsibility," President Wilfried Porth, a former DaimlerChrysler official, told a hastily called news conference.
"The matter should clearly have been treated as a recall back in 1996. However, only limited modifications were ordered, leaving the failure without resolution. This was the result of the corporate culture of concealment," he said, adding that the concealment was a "violation of law".
The unlisted truck maker is owned 65 percent by DaimlerChrysler AG and 20 percent by Mitsubishi Motors Corp . It was a division of Mitsubishi Motors until being spun off in January 2003.