AKIPRESS.COM - Toshiba Corp's chief executive stepped down on Tuesday after an independent investigation found he had been aware the company had inflated its profits, in the country's biggest corporate scandal in years, Reuters reports.

CEO and President Hisao Tanaka said he will be temporarily replaced by Chairman Masashi Muromachi, adding that the company was considering appointing outside directors to over half of its board seats.

"I see this as the most damaging event for our brand in the company's 140-year history," Tanaka told a news conference after making a ritual deep bow of contrition to a flurry of camera shutters and flashes.

"I don't think these problems can be overcome overnight."

Muromachi is considered a safe pair of hands to lead Toshiba through its current turmoil before handing the reins to a successor. The company plans to announce next month the delayed business results for the financial year ended in March.

Tanaka's predecessors as CEO of the laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate, Vice Chairman Norio Sasaki and adviser Atsutoshi Nishida, will also step down after the third-party report showed they played a part in the overstatement of profits going back to the 2008 financial year.

Monday's report by an outside panel of accountants and lawyers said Toshiba had overstated its operating profit by 151.8 billion yen ($1.22 billion) over several years, roughly triple Toshiba's initial estimate.