TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's securities watchdog is likely to recommend a fine of about 7.5 billion yen (£39 million) for scandal-hit Toshiba Corp (T:6502) for cooking its books over the past seven years, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission will make the recommendation to the Financial Services Agency as early as this month, the paper said.
Toshiba has set aside 8.4 billion yen for administrative penalties, meaning the impact on its earnings would be minimal, the Nikkei added.
Toshiba, whose business spans household electronics to nuclear power, has said it inflated profits by about 155 billion yen over roughly seven years, in what third-party investigators blamed on over-reaching and a culture that discouraged employees from questioning authority.
The recommended fine, which the Nikkei said could top 8 billion yen, would exceed the record fine of 1.6 billion yen paid by industrial conglomerate IHI Corp (T:7013) in 2008 for accounting-related violations, the Nikkei said.
Toshiba has since appointed more outsiders to its board of directors, which this month said it had sued five former executives over mismanagement.