Toshiba says third-party accounting probe to take until mid-July

FAR-REACHING RAMIFICATIONS: Shares of Toshiba, whose businesses extend from laptop computers to nuclear power plants, have slid about 20% since it disclosed an initial internal probe in early April.

TOKYO: Japanese industrial conglomerate Toshiba Corp said that an ongoing independent investigation into accounting irregularities was likely to last until mid-July, and that it would file its annual report up to two months later than usual. 

Toshiba has not been able to close its books for the year that ended in March because of the investigation into its book-keeping, which it says likely led to profits being overstated by at least 50bil yen (RM1.47bil) in recent years. As a result, it also skipped its year-end dividend.