Sanyo Electric President Resigns

Sanyo Electric Co.’s president said Wednesday he would resign amid an accounting scandal at the Japanese electronics company.

Toshimasa Iue, grandson of Sanyo founder Toshio Iue, will be replaced Monday by Vice President Seiichiro Sano, the company said. Iue will stay on as a company director.

Sano, 54, has been with the company for 30 years. He is the first company president outside the Iue family, the company said.

Sanyo got its start in 1947 making bicycle lights. It made Japan’s first plastic radio in 1952.

The company said the executive change was part of its ongoing structural transformation.

Sanyo is under investigation for its accounting practices and has said it may revise its earnings for the four fiscal years through March 2004. It expects to report a net loss of $428 million in the fiscal year ending Saturday, compared with $1.76 billion last fiscal year.

Several Sanyo-made laptop batteries are also being recalled, including 205,000 made by Lenovo Group Ltd.